Posting content to social medium

ABSTRACT

A computer-implemented method of posting content to a social medium comprises receiving content posted by a user along with an associated posting time which indicates when the user selected an option to post the content to the social medium; determining that publication of the content posted by the user is dependent on a trigger; and in response to determining that publication of the content is dependent on the trigger, storing the content with the associated posting time and suspending publication of the content until the trigger is satisfied such that the posting time published with the content indicates a time prior to transmission of the content from an electronic device to a server for publishing.

BACKGROUND

Social media, which are media to be formed with information transmittedby users, have emerged one after another on the Internet. Social mediainclude, for example, a social networking service (SNS), a blog, amessage board, an FAQ site, a moving or still image posting/sharingsite, and a word-of-mouth site.

Development of social media and maintenance of communicationenvironments have enabled content (for example, a message, a picture, amoving image, or a combination thereof) to be posted in real time. Auser at a travel destination, for example, who wants to publish contentto a social medium so that a location and date and time of his/heractual visit can be seen, tends to post the content one at a time to thesocial medium.

SUMMARY

In one embodiment, a computer-implemented method of posting content to asocial medium is provided. The method comprises receiving content postedby a user along with an associated posting time which indicates when theuser selected an option to post the content to the social medium;determining that publication of the content posted by the user isdependent on a trigger; and in response to determining that publicationof the content is dependent on the trigger, storing the content with theassociated posting time and suspending publication of the content untilthe trigger is satisfied such that the posting time published with thecontent indicates a time prior to transmission of the content from anelectronic device to a server for publishing.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

FIG. 1A is a diagram illustrating one embodiment of an example of aclient device (electronic device);

FIG. 1B is a diagram illustrating another embodiment of an example ofthe client device (electronic device);

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating one embodiment of an example of aserver device (server computer);

FIG. 3 depicts one embodiment of an example of posting of content to asocial medium and publication of the content and illustrates an aspectin which the electronic device determines whether the publication of theposted content is enabled;

FIG. 4 is another example of posting of content to a social medium andthe publication of the content and illustrates an aspect in which theserver computer determines whether the publication of the posted contentis enabled;

FIG. 5 is another example of the posting of content to a social mediumand the publication of the content and illustrates an aspect in whichthe electronic device determines whether the publication of the postedcontent is enabled, by reading time until a user leaves a currentposition, from the user's schedule, and also predicting time until theuser arrives at his/her home;

FIG. 6 is another example of the posting of content to a social mediumand the publication of the content and illustrates an aspect in whichthe server computer determines whether the publication of the postedcontent is enabled, by reading the time until the user leaves thecurrent position, from the user's schedule, and also predicting the timeuntil the user arrives at his/her home;

FIG. 7 is another example of the posting of content to a social mediumand the publication of the content and illustrates an aspect in whichthe electronic device determines whether the publication of the postedcontent is enabled, in response to the user having left a locationdesignated by the user;

FIG. 8 is another example of the posting of content to a social mediumand the publication of the content and illustrates an aspect in whichthe server computer determines whether the publication of the postedcontent is enabled, in response to the user having left the locationdesignated by the user;

FIG. 9A is a flowchart for example processes of posting content to thesocial medium and publishing the content and illustrates a case wherewhether the publication of the posted content is enabled is determinedon the electronic device;

FIG. 9B is a flowchart for example processes of posting content to thesocial medium and publishing the content and illustrates a case wherewhether the publication of the posted content is enabled is determinedon the server computer;

FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating an example of a functional blockdiagram of one embodiment of an electronic device and,

FIG. 11 is a diagram illustrating an example of a functional blockdiagram of another embodiment of an electronic device.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Due to the nature of the social medium, the content posted to the socialmedium is unintentionally in a state of being browsable by anunspecified large number of people. The posted content may, however,include position information on the user (who is a poster), or contentsuggesting the position information.

A malicious third party may browse the content to know the user'sabsence from the user's home or office. In such a case, the maliciousthird party may commit a criminal act, such as sneak thievery, knowingthe user's absence through the content posted to the social medium.

In this way, the content posted to the social medium may increasinglycause damage, such as sneak thievery. Moreover, these days, a celebrityor a famous person, for example, such as an entertainer or a musician,performs posting one at a time to a social medium at a restaurant orduring shopping. The posted content may, however, include the positioninformation on the user or the content suggesting the positioninformation, as described above. Fans or the like of the celebrity orthe famous person may thus barge into a location where the celebrity orthe famous person is, and consequently cause confusion. In this way, thecontent posted to the social medium may show the whereabouts of thecelebrity or the famous person, and thereby cause trouble or confusionto the location where the celebrity or the famous person is.

As a conventional art, there is a method of manually switching betweenpublic and private content to be posted to a social medium. According tothe method, however, the user needs to perform manual setting, and maythus forget to switch the setting from public to private. Also, if thesetting of publication of the content has been set to private by defaultfor safety, the user forgets to switch the setting from private topublic, and the content remains unpublished.

Moreover, as a conventional art, there is a social medium that enablessetting to restrict a publication range of content to be posted to thesocial medium, for example, to friends, friends of friends, or aspecific person or list. Under the restriction, however, the socialmedium cannot fulfill a role as a transmitter of information to anunspecified large number of people, which is one of the purposes of thesocial media.

Accordingly, one benefit of the embodiments described herein is to helpprevent a criminal act that may be caused through posting of content toa social medium. Moreover, another benefit of the embodiments describedherein is to help prevent confusion that may be caused through theposting of the content to the social medium. Moreover, yet anotherbenefit is to maintain the role as the transmitter of information to anunspecified large number of people, which is one of the purposes of thesocial media.

Aspects of the present disclosure provide a technique for postingcontent to a social medium. The technique may include a method ofposting content to a social medium, as well as an electronic device, aprogram for the electronic device, and a program product for theelectronic device, which are for posting the content.

Aspects of the present disclosure also provide a technique forpublishing content to a social medium. The technique may include amethod of publishing content to a social medium, as well as a servercomputer, a program for the server computer, and a program product forthe server computer, which are for publishing the content.

In a first aspect a method of posting content to a social mediumcomprises detecting posting of content to a social medium by a user; inresponse to detecting that the content has been posted, determiningwhether publication of the posted content is enabled; and in response tothe publication of the posted content having been enabled, transmittingthe posted content to a server computer.

Posting date and time to be displayed when the posted content ispublished on the server computer may be date and time when the postedcontent has been posted by the user.

In one embodiment, the electronic device may further execute the methodof determining whether the posted content includes informationindicating shooting date and time; in response to the posted contentincluding the information indicating the shooting date and time,enabling the user to determine whether to utilize the shooting date andtime as the posting date and time for the content; and in response tothe user's instruction to utilize the shooting date and time as theposting date and time for the content, setting the shooting date andtime as the posting date and time for the content.

In one embodiment, determining whether the posted content includesinformation indicating shooting date and time includes determining thatthe publication is enabled,

-   -   (1) in response to arrival of the user at a location designated        by the user or vicinity of the designated location (hereinafter        also referred to as “Trigger 1”);    -   (2) in response to the user having left the location designated        by the user or the vicinity of the designated location        (hereinafter also referred to as “Trigger 2”); or    -   (3) in response to absence of the user from the location        designated by the user or the vicinity of the designated        location (hereinafter also referred to as “Trigger 3”).

In one embodiment, determining whether the posted content includesinformation indicating shooting date and time includes determining thatthe publication is enabled,

-   -   (4) in response to predicting time until the user arrives at the        location designated by the user from a current position, and the        predicted time having elapsed (hereinafter also referred to as        “Trigger 4”);    -   (5) in response to reading time until the user leaves the        current position, from a schedule, and the time having elapsed        (hereinafter also referred to as “Trigger 5”);    -   (6) in response to predicting the time until the user leaves the        current position, and the predicted time having elapsed        (hereinafter also referred to as “Trigger 6”); or    -   (7) in response to a certain time having elapsed (hereinafter        also referred to as “Trigger 7”).

In one embodiment, determining whether the posted content includesinformation indicating shooting data and time includes determining thatthe publication is enabled,

-   -   (8) in response to arrival of a party other than the user at the        location designated by the user or the vicinity of the        designated location (hereinafter also referred to as “Trigger        8”); or    -   (9) in response to presence of the party other than the user at        the location designated by the user (hereinafter also referred        to as “Trigger 9”).

In one embodiment, the determining whether the posted content includesinformation indicating shooting date and time includes determiningwhether the publication of the posted content to some of users of thesocial medium is enabled.

Moreover, in response to the publication of the posted content to thesome of the users being enabled, transmitting the posted contentincludes attaching information allowing the publication to the some ofthe users, to the posted content, and transmitting the posted contentwith the information to the server computer. Moreover, in oneembodiment, after attaching the information allowing the publication tothe some of the users, to the posted content, and transmitting theposted content with the information to the server computer, theelectronic device may further execute the method of determining whetherthe publication of the posted content to all users is enabled; and inresponse to the publication of the posted content to the all users beingenabled, transmitting a request for the publication of the postedcontent to the all users, to the server computer.

In one embodiment, the electronic device may further, in response to thepublication of the posted content not being enabled, store the postedcontent in a buffer of the electronic device.

In one embodiment, the electronic device may further, in response to thepublication of the posted content not being enabled, repeatedlydetermine whether the publication of the posted content is enabled.

In one embodiment, the transmitting may include a block transmitting thedate and time when the posted content has been posted by the user, alongwith the posted content.

In a second aspect a method of publishing content to a social medium anda server computer executes the method comprising receiving contentposted by a user, from an electronic device; determining whetherpublication of the received content is enabled; and in response to thepublication of the received content having been enabled, publishing thereceived content.

Posting date and time to be displayed when the received content ispublished on the server computer may be date and time when the postedcontent has been posted by the user on the electronic device.

In one embodiment, if the posted content includes the informationindicating the shooting date and time, the posting date and time to bedisplayed when the received content is published on the server computermay be the shooting date and time.

In one embodiment, the determining may include determining that thepublication is enabled, in response to any one of the triggers (1) to(9).

In one embodiment, the determining may include determining whether thepublication of the received content to some of users of the socialmedium is enabled. Moreover, the publishing may include, in response tothe publication of the received content to the some of the users beingenabled, publishing the received content to the some of the users.Moreover, in one embodiment, the server computer may further determinewhether the publication of the received content to all users is enabled;and in response to the publication of the received content to the allusers being enabled, publish the received content to the all users.

In one embodiment, the server computer may further, in response to thepublication of the received content not being enabled, store thereceived content in a buffer of the server computer.

In one embodiment, the server computer may further, in response to thepublication of the received content not being enabled, repeatedlydetermine whether the publication of the posted content is enabled.

In one embodiment, the receiving block may include a block of receivingthe date and time when the posted content has been posted by the user,along with the posted content.

In a third aspect, an electronic device for posting content to a socialmedium includes content posting detecting means for detecting posting ofcontent to a social medium by a user; content publication determiningmeans for, in response to detecting that the content has been posted,determining whether publication of the posted content is enabled; andcontent transmitting means for, in response to the publication of theposted content having been enabled, transmitting the posted content to aserver computer.

Posting date and time to be displayed when the posted content ispublished on the server computer is date and time when the postedcontent has been posted by the user.

In one embodiment, the content publication determining means maydetermine whether the publication of the posted content to some of usersof the social medium is enabled. If the publication of the postedcontent to the some of the users is enabled, the content transmittingmeans may attach information allowing the publication to the some of theusers, to the posted content, and transmit the posted content with theinformation to the server computer. Moreover, in one embodiment, afterattaching the information allowing the publication to the some of theusers, to the posted content, and transmitting the posted content withthe information to the server computer, the content publicationdetermining means may determine whether the publication of the postedcontent to all users is enabled, and the content transmitting means may,in response to the publication of the posted content to the all usersbeing enabled, transmit a request for the publication of the postedcontent to the all users, to the server computer.

In a fourth aspect, a server computer for publishing content to a socialmedium includes content receiving means for receiving content posted bya user, from an electronic device; content publication determining meansfor determining whether publication of the received content is enabled;and content publishing means for, in response to the publication of thereceived content having been enabled, publishing the received content.

Posting date and time to be displayed when the received content ispublished on the server computer may be date and time when the postedcontent has been posted by the user on the electronic device.

In one embodiment, if the posted content includes the informationindicating the shooting date and time, the posting date and time to bedisplayed when the received content is published on the server computermay be the shooting date and time.

In one embodiment, the content publication determining means maydetermine whether the publication of the received content to some ofusers of the social medium is enabled. If the publication of the postedcontent to the some of the users is enabled, the content publicationdetermining means may, in response to the publication of the receivedcontent to the some of the users being enabled, publish the receivedcontent to some of the users as above. Moreover, in one embodiment, thecontent publication determining means may determine whether thepublication of the received content to all users is enabled, and inresponse to the publication of the received content to the all usersbeing enabled, publish the received content to the all users.

In a fifth aspect, a program for an electronic device for postingcontent to a social medium causes the electronic device to execute eachblock of the method described in the first aspect.

In a sixth aspect, a program for a server computer for publishingcontent to a social medium causes the server computer to execute themethod described in the second aspect.

Each of the program for the electronic device and the program for theserver computer may be stored in any one or more computer-readablerecording media, such as a flexible disk, an MO, a CD-ROM, a DVD, a BD,a hard disk device, a USB-connectable memory medium, a ROM, an MRAM, anda RAM. Each of the program for the electronic device and the program forthe server computer may be downloaded from another computer connectedthrough a communication line, for example, a server computer (which maybe the same as or different from the server computer), or may bereplicated from another recording medium, for storage in the recordingmedium. Each of the program for the electronic device and the programfor the server computer may also be compressed or divided into multipleprograms, and stored in a single or multiple recording media. Moreover,it should be noted that a program product for the electronic device anda program product for the server computer may also be provided invarious forms, of course. Each of the program product for the electronicdevice and the product program for the server computer may include, forexample, a storage medium having recorded the program for the electronicdevice or the program for the server computer, or a transmission mediumfor transmitting the program for the electronic device or the programfor the server computer.

It should be noted that the above description does not list allfeatures, and that a combination or a sub combination of thesecomponents may also be included in some embodiments.

Those skilled in the art may, of course, easily envision variousmodifications, such as combination of each hardware component of theelectronic device or the server computer, with multiple machines, andallocation of functions to those machines for implementation. Suchmodifications are concepts that are naturally included in theembodiments. These components are, however, illustrative, and not all ofthe components become essential components.

Moreover, the embodiments described herein may be realized in hardware,software, or a combination of hardware and software.

Execution in the combination of hardware and software includes executionin the electronic device in which the program for the electronic devicehas been installed, as a typical example. In such a case, the programfor the electronic device is loaded into a memory of the electronicdevice and is executed, and thereby the program for the electronicdevice controls and causes the electronic device to execute processes.The program for the electronic device may consist of an instructiongroup representable in any language, code, or notation. Such aninstruction group enables the program for the electronic device todirectly execute a specific function, or to execute processes afterperformance of any one or both of 1. conversion into another language,code, or notation; and 2. replication to another medium.

Similarly, the execution in the combination of hardware and softwareincludes execution in the server computer in which the program for theserver computer has been installed, as a typical example. In such acase, the program for the server computer is loaded into a memory of theserver computer and is executed, and thereby the program for the servercomputer controls and causes the server computer to execute theprocesses. The program for the server computer may consist of aninstruction group representable in any language, code, or notation. Suchan instruction group enables the program for the server computer todirectly execute a specific function, or to execute the processes afterperformance of any one or both of 1. conversion into another language,code, or notation; and 2. replication to another medium.

According to aspects described herein, even if the content posted to thesocial medium includes the position information on the user (who is theposter) or the content suggesting the position information, time whenthe content is published can be automatically controlled (that is,automatically published) under a specific condition. This enablesreduced risk of encountering damage, such as sneak thievery, caused bythe malicious third party. Moreover, this enables prevention ofoccurrence of the confusion even if a third party having read thecontent barges into a location where the user was, since the user isalready absent from the location.

Moreover, according to aspects described herein, unlike the case ofmanually switching the setting of the publication of the content frompublic to private, a possible leak of information on the user's absencefrom the home or the office, through the user's current location or thelike, can be automatically sensed and prevented.

Moreover, according to aspects described herein, unlike the case ofmanually switching the setting of the publication of the content frompublic to private, possible identification of a location where the useris, in real time through the user's current location or the like, can beautomatically sensed and prevented.

Moreover, according to aspects described herein, the role as thetransmitter of information to an unspecified large number of people,which is one of the purposes of the social media, can be fulfilledwithout limitation of the publication range.

Moreover, according to aspects described herein, since the date and timeof the posting of the content to the social medium is utilized as theposting date and time to be displayed when the content is published onthe server computer, even if publication date and time for the contentis later than the posting date and time, the content appears to havebeen published on the posting date and time. This enables the content tobe arranged in order of the posting, that is, in time-series order ofthe posting (that is, this enables the time series to be maintained),even if the publication date and time for the content is later than theposting date and time.

Aspects will be described below in accordance with the drawings. Thesame reference numeral denotes the same subject throughout the followingfigures unless otherwise specified. It should be understood that theembodiments are provided to describe aspects and is not intended tolimit the scope of the embodiments to that set forth herein.

Terms used in describing the embodiments will be described below.

“Social medium” refers to a medium to be formed with informationtransmitted by users on the Internet. The social medium may be, forexample, but not limited to, a social networking service (SNS), a movingor still image posting/sharing site, a blog, a message board, an FAQsite, or a word-of-mouth site. The social networking service (SNS) canbe, for example, Twitter®, Facebook®, Foursquare®, or LINE®. The movingor still image posting/sharing site can be, for example, Instagram®.

“Content” refers to a message, a still image (for example, a picture, anillustration), a moving image, audio, position information, a URL,friend information, or a combination thereof.

The message may be, for example, in a text format, an HTML format, orany other format. The message may arbitrarily include a word thatenables identification of a location or suggests the location.

The picture may be stored as picture data, for example, in a JPEGformat, a PNG format, a GIF format, a BMP format, a TIFF format, or anyother format. The picture may arbitrarily include a background (forexample, a building, a scene, a name of a place, characters) thatenables identification of a location or suggests the location. Thepicture may also arbitrarily include embedded geographical information(for example, GPS information) that enables identification of a locationor suggests the location.

The moving image may be stored as moving image data, for example, in anMPEG format, an MP4 format, an AVI format, a MOV format, an ASF format,or any other format. The moving image may arbitrarily include abackground (for example, a building, a scene, a name of a place,characters) or audio that enables identification of a location orsuggests the location. The moving image data may also arbitrarilyinclude embedded geographical information (for example, GPS information)that enables identification of a location or suggests the location.

The audio may be, for example, in a WAV format, an AIFF format, a BWFformat, or any other format. The audio may arbitrarily include a sound(for example, speech of a name of a place, an announcement) that enablesidentification of a location or suggests the location.

The position information may be data obtained from Wi-Fi, GPS, a mobiletelephone base station (3G, 4G), or a combination thereof, for example.

The URL may be, for example, a position information URL, a URLindicating a current position of an electronic device on a map, or a URLindicating information associated with whereabouts. The positioninformation URL is a format for representing the position information ashttp (URL), and may be, for example, Mobile Office Promotion Association(MOPA) position information URL. The URL indicating the current positionof the electronic device on the map may be, for example, a URLindicating position information identified by a mobile telephone number,for example. The URL indicating the information associated with thewhereabouts may be, for example, a URL of a restaurant or commercialfacilities, for example. The friend information may be, for example,data included in a friend list.

FIGS. 1A and 1B are diagrams illustrating examples of a client device(electronic device). FIG. 1A is a diagram illustrating an example of theelectronic device (for example, a notebook, an ultrabook).

An electronic device (101) includes one or more CPUs (102) and a mainmemory (103), which are connected to a bus (104). The CPU (102) is basedon 32-bit or 64-bit architecture. The CPU (102) may be, for example,Core™ i series, Core™ 2 series, Atom™ series, Xeon® series, Pentium®series, or Celeron® series from Intel Corporation; A series, Phenom™series, Athlon™ series, Turion™ series, or Sempron™ from AMD (AdvancedMicro Devices), Inc.; or Power™ series from International BusinessMachines Corporation.

The bus (104) may be connected to a display (106), for example, a liquidcrystal display (LCD), via a display controller (105). Moreover, theliquid crystal display (LCD) may be, for example, a touch panel displayor a floating touch display. The display (106) may be used to displayobjects with a suitable graphic interface, and the objects are displayedthrough operations of software running on the electronic device (101)(for example, a program for the electronic device, or any variousprograms for the electronic device (for example, any various computerprograms) running on the electronic device (101)). Moreover, the display(106) may output a screen of, for example, an application for postingcontent to a social medium, for example, a web browser application.

The bus (104) may optionally be connected to a disk (108), for example,a hard disk or a solid-state drive (SSD), via a SATA or IDE controller(107), for example. The bus (104) may optionally be connected to a drive(109), for example, a CD, DVD or BD drive, via the SATA or IDEcontroller (107), for example. The bus (104) may optionally be connectedto a keyboard (111) and a mouse (112) via a peripheral device controller(110), for example, via a keyboard/mouse controller or a USB bus.

In the disk (108), programs for providing an operating system, forexample, such as Windows®, MacOS®, Android®, UNIX®, and Linux®, a Java®processing environment such as J2EE, a Java® application, a Java®virtual machine (VM), and a Java® Just-In-Time (JIT) compiler; acomputer program according to aspects of the disclosure; and otherprograms, as well as data may be stored so as to be loadable in the mainmemory (103).

The disk (108) may be included within the electronic device (101), maybe connected through a cable so as to be accessible by the electronicdevice (101), or may be connected via a wired or wireless network so asto be accessible by the electronic device (101).

The drive (109) may be used to install a program, for example, theoperating system, an application, or the program for the electronicdevice according to aspects of the disclosure, from a CD-ROM, a DVD-ROMor a BD into the disk (108), as necessary.

A communication interface (114) complies with the Ethernet® protocol,for example. The communication interface (114) is connected to the bus(104) via a communication controller (113) and responsible for wired orwireless connection of the electronic device (101) to a communicationline (115), and provides a network interface layer for the TCP/IPcommunication protocol for a communication function of the operatingsystem of the electronic device (101). It should be noted that thecommunication line may be, for example, a wireless LAN environment basedon wireless LAN connection standards, a Wi-Fi wireless LAN environment,such as IEEE 802.11a/b/g/n, or a mobile telephone network environment(for example, a 3G, LTE, or 4G environment).

FIG. 1B is a diagram illustrating an example of the electronic device(which may be, for example, a smartphone, a phablet, a tablet terminal,an electronic book reader, a mobile telephone, or a navigation device(for example, a portable navigation device)).

A CPU (122), a main memory (123), a bus (124), a display controller(125), a display (126), an SSD (128), a communication controller (133),a communication interface (134), and a communication line (135) of anelectronic device (121) illustrated in FIG. 1B may correspond to the CPU(102), the main memory (103), the bus (104), the display controller(105), the display (106), the disk (108), the communication controller(113), the communication interface (114), and the communication line(115) of the electronic device (101) illustrated in FIG. 1A,respectively.

If the electronic device (121) is the smartphone, the phablet, thetablet terminal, the electronic book reader, the mobile telephone, thenavigation device, or the like, the CPU (122) may be, for example,various CPUs for the tablet terminal, the smartphone, the electronicbook reader, or the mobile telephone, or A series from Apple Inc.®

In the SSD (128) disk, for example, programs for providing an OS for thesmartphone, the phablet, the tablet terminal, the electronic bookreader, the mobile telephone, the navigation device, or the like (forexample, Android®, FireOS, Windows® or Windows® PhoneOS, or iOS), theJava® processing environment such as J2EE, the Java® application, theJava® virtual machine (VM), and the Java® Just-In-Time (JIT) compiler;the program for the electronic device according to aspects of thedisclosure; and other programs, as well as data may be stored so as tobe loadable in the main memory (123).

A keyboard implementing unit (130) may display a software keyboard onthe display (126), as one of apps. It should be understood that,hereinafter, reference to the electronic device (121) may refer to theelectronic device (101) illustrated in FIG. 1A, instead of theelectronic device (121) illustrated in FIG. 1B.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an example of a server computer (forexample, a computer including a server function). A server computer(201) may be configured as a general purpose computer device, forexample, such as a workstation, a rack mountable server, a blade server,a midrange, and a mainframe.

The server computer (201) includes one or more CPUs (202) and a mainmemory (203), which are connected to a bus (204). The CPU (202) is basedon the 32-bit or 64-bit architecture. The CPU (202) may be, for example,Xeon® series, Core™ i series, Core™ 2 series, Pentium® series, Celeron®series, or Atom™ series from Intel Corporation; Opteron™ series, Aseries, Phenom™ series, Athlon™ series, Turion® series, or Sempron™ fromAMD (Advanced Micro Devices), Inc.; or Power™ series from InternationalBusiness Machines Corporation.

The main memory (203), the bus (204), a display controller (205), adisplay (206), a SATA or IDE controller (207), a disk (208), a drive(209), a peripheral device controller (210), a keyboard (211), a mouse(212), a communication controller (213), a communication interface(214), and a communication line (215) of the server computer (201)illustrated in FIG. 2 may correspond to the main memory (103), the bus(104), the display controller (105), the display (106), the SATA or IDEcontroller (107), the disk (108), the drive (109), the peripheral devicecontroller (110), the keyboard (111), the mouse (112), the communicationcontroller (113), the communication interface (114), and thecommunication line (115) of the electronic device (101) illustrated inFIG. 1A, respectively.

Moreover, the server computer (201) can run one or more virtual machineswith the same or different OS (for example, Windows®, UNIX®, Linux®) asa guest OS, on a hypervisor (also referred to as “virtualizationmonitor” or “virtualization OS”), which is virtualization software (forexample, VMWare®, Hyper-V®, Xen®).

FIGS. 3 to 8 illustrate examples of posting of content to a socialmedium and publication of the content, respectively. FIG. 3 is anexample of the posting of the content to the social medium and thepublication of the content, and illustrates an aspect in which theelectronic device (121) determines whether the publication of the postedcontent is enabled.

A user (301) is assumed to be carrying the electronic device (121) (forexample, the smartphone). The user (301) is assumed to have selected atrigger option for temporarily suspending the posting of the content tothe social medium if the electronic device (121) is not located at ahome of the user (301) or in the vicinity of the home (for example, at adistance from which the user (301) arrives at the home within fiveminutes' walk).

The user (301) has shot a still image of a tower building at Spot A,using a camera function of the electronic device (121). The user (301)has then posted the shot still image from the electronic device (121) tothe social medium at 17:30 on Sep. 1, 2014 (block 311). The posting isperformed through pressing a post button displayed on a screen of theelectronic device (121) (the same applies to the followings).

In response to detection of the still image having been posted, theelectronic device (121) obtains a current position of the electronicdevice (121), for example, using a GPS function of the electronic device(121), in order to determine whether the still image may be uploaded tothe social medium for publication. The electronic device (121)determines whether the current position of the electronic device (121)is located either at the home of the user (301) or in the vicinity ofthe home, based on information on the obtained position. In response tothe current position of the electronic device (121) being locatedneither at the home of the user (301) nor in the vicinity of the home,the electronic device (121) temporarily suspends the upload of theposted still image to the social medium, and stores the posted stillimage in the memory (123) or the storage medium (128) of the electronicdevice (121) (block 312). Accordingly, the still image posted by theuser (301) is not published on the social medium in real time inresponse to the posting by the user (301). The electronic device (121)stores “17:30 on Sep. 1, 2014,” which is the time of day of the postingby the user (301), in association with the stored still image.

The user (301) is moving from Spot A to Spot B (block 313). Theelectronic device (121) obtains the current position of the electronicdevice (121), for example, using the GPS function, for example, atpredetermined intervals. The electronic device (121) then determineswhether the current position of the electronic device (121) is locatedeither at the home of the user (301) or in the vicinity of the home,based on the obtained position information. In response to the currentposition of the electronic device (121) being neither at the home of theuser (301) nor in the vicinity of the home, the electronic device (121)continues the suspension (block 312).

The user (301) has moved from Spot A to Spot B. The user (301) has shota goal moment in a soccer game as a moving image at Spot B, using avideo function of the electronic device (121). The user (301) has thenentered a message “I'm watching soccer now.” and posted the moving imagealong with the message to the social medium at 18:30 on Sep. 1, 2014(block 314).

In response to detection of the message and the moving image having beenposted, the electronic device (121) obtains the current position of theelectronic device (121), for example, using the GPS function, in orderto determine whether the message and the moving image may be uploaded tothe social medium for publication. The electronic device (121)determines whether the current position of the electronic device (121)is located either at the home of the user (301) or in the vicinity ofthe home, based on the obtained position information. In response to thecurrent position of the electronic device (121) being located neither atthe home of the user (301) nor in the vicinity of the home, theelectronic device (121) temporarily suspends the upload of the postedmessage and the posted moving image to the social medium, and stores theposted message and the posted moving image in the memory (123) or thestorage medium (128) of the electronic device (121) (block 315).Accordingly, the message and the moving image posted by the user (301)are not published on the social medium in real time in response to theposting by the user (301). The electronic device (121) stores “18:30 onSep. 1, 2014” which is the time of day of the posting by the user (301),in association with the stored message and the stored moving image.

The user (301) has finished watching the soccer game, and is moving fromSpot B to Spot C (block 316). The electronic device (121) obtains thecurrent position of the electronic device (121), for example, using theGPS function, for example, at predetermined intervals. The electronicdevice (121) then determines whether the current position of theelectronic device (121) is located either at the home of the user (301)or in the vicinity of the home, based on the obtained positioninformation. In response to the current position of the electronicdevice (121) being located neither at the home of the user (301) nor inthe vicinity of the home, the electronic device (121) continues thesuspension (blocks 312 and 315).

The user (301) has finished watching the soccer game, and has moved fromSpot B to Spot C. The user (301) has entered a message “I've justarrived at Tokyo station.” and posted the message to the social mediumat 21:30 on Sep. 1, 2014 at Spot C (block 317).

In response to detection of the message having been posted, theelectronic device (121) obtains the current position of the electronicdevice (121), for example, using the GPS function, in order to determinewhether the message may be uploaded to the social medium forpublication. The electronic device (121) determines whether the currentposition of the electronic device (121) is located either at the home ofthe user (301) or in the vicinity of the home, based on the obtainedposition information. In response to the current position of theelectronic device (121) being located neither at the home of the user(301) nor in the vicinity of the home, the electronic device (121)temporarily suspends the upload of the posted message to the socialmedium, and stores the posted message in the memory (123) or the storagemedium (128) of the electronic device (121) (block 318). Accordingly,the message posted by the user (301) is not published on the socialmedium in real time in response to the posting by the user (301). Theelectronic device (121) stores “21:30 on Sep. 1, 2014” which is the timeof day of the posting by the user (301), in association with the storedmessage.

The user (301) is moving from Spot C to the home (block 319). Theelectronic device (121) obtains the current position of the electronicdevice (121), for example, using the GPS function, for example, atpredetermined intervals. The electronic device (121) then determineswhether the current position of the electronic device (121) is locatedeither at the home of the user (301) or in the vicinity of the home,based on the obtained position information. In response to the currentposition of the electronic device (121) being located neither at thehome of the user (301) nor in the vicinity of the home, the electronicdevice (121) continues the suspension (blocks 312, 315 and 318).

The user (301) has arrived at the home. In response to his/her return tothe home, the user (301) has placed the electronic device (121) in acradle for charging (block 320). In response to the placement in thecradle, the electronic device (121) has detected that the currentposition of the electronic device (121) is at the home of the user(301). A Near Field Communication (NFC) tag is provided in the cradle,and the electronic device (121) may detect that the current position ofthe electronic device (121) is at the home of the user (301), inresponse to detection of the NFC tag. The electronic device (121) mayalternatively obtain the current position of the electronic device(121), for example, using the GPS function, in response to the placementin the cradle.

In response to the current position of the electronic device (121) beingat the home of the user (301) (that is, the presence of the user (301)at the home), the electronic device (121) uploads all of the contentthat has been suspended (blocks 312, 315 and 318), to the servercomputer (201) that manages the posting of the content to the socialmedium, for the publication (block 321).

The server computer (201) receives all of the content that has beensuspended (blocks 312, 315 and 318), from the electronic device (121).The server computer (201) then immediately publishes all of the receivedcontent to the social medium (block 322). The server computer (201) useseach posting date and time associated with each piece of the receivedcontent, as each posting date and time to be displayed when each pieceof the content is published on the server computer, and publishes theposting date and time to all users. Accordingly, the server computer(201) publishes the posting date and time indicating that the stillimage has been posted at 17:30 on Sep. 1, 2014; publishes the postingdate and time indicating that the message “I'm watching soccer now.” andthe moving image have been posted at 18:30 on Sep. 1, 2014; andpublishes the posting date and time indicating that the message “I'vejust arrived at Tokyo station.” has been posted at 21:30 on Sep. 1, 2014(block 323). Accordingly, the still image, the message “I'm watchingsoccer now.” and the moving image, as well as the message “I've justarrived at Tokyo station.” are published on the social medium in orderof the time of day of the posting by the user (301).

In this way, since the still image, the message “I'm watching soccernow.” and the moving image, as well as the message “I've just arrived atTokyo station.” are published in response to the user (301) havingreturned to the home, the absence of the user (301) during such a timespan is unknown to a third party, and a criminal act such as sneakthievery can thus be prevented. Moreover, since the still image, themessage “I'm watching soccer now.” and the moving image, as well as themessage “I've just arrived at Tokyo station.” are published on thesocial medium in order of the time of day of the posting by the user(301), the posting time of day for each piece of the content cannot beout of order.

FIG. 4 is an example of the posting of the content to the social mediumand the publication of the content, and illustrates an aspect in whichthe server computer (201) determines whether the publication of theposted content is enabled.

A user (401) is assumed to be carrying the electronic device (121) (forexample, the tablet terminal). The user (401) is assumed to haveselected a trigger option for temporarily suspending the publication ofthe content to the social medium if the electronic device (121) is notlocated at a home of the user (401) or in the vicinity of the home (forexample, at a distance within a range in which the electronic device(121) recognizes a LAN access point at the home of the user (401) or inan apartment where the home is located).

The user (401) has shot the still image of the tower building at Spot A,using the camera function of the electronic device (121). The user (401)has then posted the shot still image from the electronic device (121) tothe social medium at 17:30 on Sep. 1, 2014 (block 411). The posting isperformed through pressing the post button displayed on the screen ofthe electronic device (121) (the same applies to the followings).

In response to the detection of the still image having been posted, theelectronic device (121) associates the still image with “17:30 on Sep.1, 2014,” which is time of day of the posting by the user (401), anduploads the still image associated with this posting time to the servercomputer (201) that manages the posting of the content to the socialmedium, for the publication (block 411).

The server computer (201) receives the still image from the electronicdevice (121). The server computer (201) then obtains the currentposition of the electronic device (121) from the electronic device (121)or from a server computer collecting the current position of theelectronic device (121) (which may be the same as or different from theserver computer (201)), in order to determine whether the received stillimage may be published to the social medium. The server computer (201)determines whether the current position of the electronic device (121)is located either at the home of the user (401) or in the vicinity ofthe home, based on the obtained position information. In response to thecurrent position of the electronic device (121) being located neither atthe home of the user (401) nor in the vicinity of the home, the servercomputer (201) temporarily suspends the publication of the posted stillimage to the social medium, and stores the posted still image in thememory (203) or the storage medium (208) of the server computer (201)(block 412). Accordingly, the still image posted by the user (401) isnot published on the social medium in real time in response to theposting by the user (401).

The user (401) is moving from Spot A to Spot B (block 413). The servercomputer (201) obtains the current position of the electronic device(121) from the electronic device (121) or from the server computercollecting the current position of the electronic device (121), forexample, at predetermined intervals. The server computer (201) thendetermines whether the current position of the electronic device (121)is located either at the home of the user (401) or in the vicinity ofthe home, based on the obtained position information. In response to thecurrent position of the electronic device (121) being located neither atthe home of the user (401) nor in the vicinity of the home, the servercomputer (201) continues the suspension (block 412).

The user (401) has moved from Spot A to Spot B. The user (401) has shotthe goal moment in the soccer game as the moving image at Spot B, usingthe video function of the electronic device (121). The user (401) hasthen entered the message “I'm watching soccer now.” and posted themoving image along with the message to the social medium at 18:30 onSep. 1, 2014 (block 414).

In response to the detection of the message and the moving image havingbeen posted, the electronic device (121) associates the message and themoving image with “18:30 on Sep. 1, 2014,” which is the time of day ofthe posting by the user (401), and uploads the message and the movingimage associated with this posting time to the server computer (201)that manages the posting of the content to the social medium, for thepublication (block 414).

The server computer (201) receives the message and the moving image fromthe electronic device (121). The server computer (201) then obtains thecurrent position of the electronic device (121) from the electronicdevice (121) or from the server computer collecting the current positionof the electronic device (121), in order to determine whether thereceived message and the received moving image may be published to thesocial medium. The server computer (201) determines whether the currentposition of the electronic device (121) is located either at the home ofthe user (401) or in the vicinity of the home, based on the obtainedposition information. In response to the current position of theelectronic device (121) being located neither at the home of the user(401) nor in the vicinity of the home, the server computer (201)temporarily suspends the publication of the received message and thereceived moving image to the social medium, and stores the receivedmessage and the received moving image in the memory (203) or the storagemedium (208) of the server computer (201) (block 415). Accordingly, themessage and the moving image posted by the user (401) are not publishedon the social medium in real time in response to the posting by the user(401).

The user (401) is moving from Spot B to Spot C (block 416). The servercomputer (201) obtains the current position of the electronic device(121) from the electronic device (121) or from the server computercollecting the current position of the electronic device (121), forexample, at predetermined intervals. The server computer (201) thendetermines whether the current position of the electronic device (121)is located either at the home of the user (401) or in the vicinity ofthe home, based on the obtained position information. In response to thecurrent position of the electronic device (121) being located neither atthe home of the user (401) nor in the vicinity of the home, the servercomputer (201) continues the suspension (blocks 412 and 415).

The user (401) has finished watching the soccer game, and has moved fromSpot B to Spot C. The user (401) has entered the message “I've justarrived at Tokyo station.” and posted the message to the social mediumat 21:30 on Sep. 1, 2014, at Spot C (block 417).

In response to the detection of the message having been posted, theelectronic device (121) associates the message with “21:30 on Sep. 1,2014,” which is the time of day of the posting by the user (401), anduploads the message associated with this posting time to the servercomputer (201) that manages the posting of the content to the socialmedium, for the publication (block 417).

The server computer (201) receives the message from the electronicdevice (121). The server computer (201) then obtains the currentposition of the electronic device (121) from the electronic device (121)or from the server computer collecting the current position of theelectronic device (121), in order to determine whether the receivedmessage may be published to the social medium. The server computer (201)determines whether the current position of the electronic device (121)is located either at the home of the user (401) or in the vicinity ofthe home, based on the obtained position information. In response to thecurrent position of the electronic device (121) being located neither atthe home of the user (401) nor in the vicinity of the home, the servercomputer (201) temporarily suspends the publication of the receivedmessage to the social medium, and stores the received message in thememory (203) or the storage medium (208) of the server computer (201)(block 418). Accordingly, the message posted by the user (401) is notpublished on the social medium in real time in response to the postingby the user (401).

The user (401) has finished watching the soccer game, and is moving fromSpot B to Spot C (block 419). The server computer (201) obtains thecurrent position of the electronic device (121) from the electronicdevice (121) or from the server computer collecting the current positionof the electronic device (121), for example, at predetermined intervals.The server computer (201) then determines whether the current positionof the electronic device (121) is located either at the home of the user(401) or in the vicinity of the home, based on the obtained positioninformation. In response to the current position of the electronicdevice (121) being located neither at the home of the user (401) nor inthe vicinity of the home, the server computer (201) continues thesuspension (blocks 412, 415 and 418).

The user (401) has arrived at the home (block 420).

The server computer (201) has obtained the current position of theelectronic device (121) from the electronic device (121) or from theserver computer collecting the current position of the electronic device(121), at predetermined intervals. The server computer (201) thendetermines whether the current position of the electronic device (121)is located either at the home of the user (401) or in the vicinity ofthe home, based on the obtained position information. The servercomputer (201) detects that the current position of the electronicdevice (121) is at the home of the user (401) (that is, the user (401)has returned to the home).

In response to the current position of the electronic device (121) beingat the home of the user (401) (that is, the presence of the user (401)at the home), the server computer (201) publishes all of the contentthat has been suspended (412, 415 and 418) (block 421). The servercomputer (201) uses each posting date and time associated with eachpiece of the content, as each posting date and time to be displayed wheneach piece of the content is published on the server computer, andpublishes the posting date and time to all users. Accordingly, theserver computer (201) publishes the posting date and time indicatingthat the still image has been posted at 17:30 on Sep. 1, 2014; publishesthe posting date and time indicating that the message “I'm watchingsoccer now.” and the moving image have been posted at 18:30 on Sep. 1,2014; and publishes the posting date and time indicating that themessage “I've just arrived at Tokyo station.” has been posted at 21:30on Sep. 1, 2014 (block 422). Accordingly, the still image, the message“I'm watching soccer now.” and the moving image, as well as the message“I've just arrived at Tokyo station.” are published on the social mediumin order of the time of day of the posting by the user (401).

In this way, since the still image, the message “I'm watching soccernow.” and the moving image, as well as the message “I've just arrived atTokyo station.” are published in response to the user (401) havingreturned to the home, the absence of the user (401) during such a timespan is unknown to the third party, and the criminal act such as sneakthievery can thus be prevented. Moreover, since the still image, themessage “I'm watching soccer now.” and the moving image, as well as themessage “I've just arrived at Tokyo station.” are published on thesocial medium in order of the time of day of the posting by the user(401), the posting time of day for each piece of the content cannot beout of order.

FIG. 5 is an example of the posting of the content to the social mediumand the publication of the content, and illustrates an aspect in whichthe electronic device (121) determines whether the publication of theposted content is enabled, by reading time until a user (501) leaves acurrent position, from a schedule of the user (501), and also predictingtime until the user (501) arrives at his/her home.

The user (501) is assumed to be carrying the electronic device (121)(for example, the smartphone). The user (501) is assumed to haveselected a trigger option for temporarily suspending the posting of thecontent to the social medium if the electronic device (121) is notlocated at the home of the user or in the vicinity of the home (forexample, at a distance within a 300 m radius from the home).

The user (501) has shot the still image of the tower building at Spot A,using the camera function of the electronic device (121). The user (501)has then posted the shot still image from the electronic device (121) tothe social medium at 17:30 on Sep. 1, 2014 (block 511). The posting isperformed through pressing the post button displayed on the screen ofthe electronic device (121) (the same applies to the followings).

In response to the detection of the still image having been posted, theelectronic device (121) obtains the current position of the electronicdevice (121), for example, using the GPS function of the electronicdevice (121), in order to determine whether the still image may beuploaded to the social medium for the publication. The electronic device(121) determines whether the current position of the electronic device(121) is located either at the home of the user (501) or in the vicinityof the home, based on the obtained position information. In response tothe current position of the electronic device (121) being locatedneither at the home of the user (501) nor in the vicinity of the home,the electronic device (121) temporarily suspends the upload of theposted still image to the social medium, and stores the posted stillimage in the memory (123) or the storage medium (128) of the electronicdevice (121) (block 512). Accordingly, the still image posted by theuser (501) is not published on the social medium in real time inresponse to the posting by the user (501). The electronic device (121)stores “17:30 on Sep. 1, 2014,” which is time of day of the posting bythe user (501), in association with the stored still image.

Moreover, the electronic device (121) reads the schedule of the user(501) on Sep. 1, 2014, from a schedule management app stored in theelectronic device (121). The electronic device (121) then knows that theuser (501) has planned to go to watch the soccer game after this. Theelectronic device (121) thus knows that the suspension (block 512) needsto be continued until 21:00, which is time of the end of the soccergame, at earliest. Accordingly, the still image posted by the user (501)is not published on the social medium in real time in response to theposting by the user (501).

Moreover, the electronic device (121) may pause a process of determiningwhether the still image may be uploaded to the social medium for thepublication, based on current position information on the electronicdevice (121), until 21:00, which is the time of the end of the soccergame, at earliest.

The user (501) is moving from Spot A to Spot B (block 515). Theelectronic device (121) obtains the current position of the electronicdevice (121), for example, using the GPS function, for example, atpredetermined intervals. The electronic device (121) then determineswhether the current position of the electronic device (121) is locatedeither at the home of the user (501) or in the vicinity of the home,based on the obtained position information. In response to the currentposition of the electronic device (121) being located neither at thehome of the user (501) nor in the vicinity of the home, the electronicdevice (121) continues the suspension (block 512). Alternatively, theelectronic device (121) may stop the determination of whether thecurrent position of the electronic device (121) is located either at thehome of the user (501) or in the vicinity of the home, until time whenthe user (501) finishes watching the soccer.

The user (501) has moved from Spot A to Spot B. The user (501) has shotthe goal moment in the soccer game as the moving image at Spot B, usingthe video function of the electronic device (121). The user (501) hasthen entered the message “I'm watching soccer now.” and posted themoving image along with the message to the social medium at 18:30 onSep. 1, 2014 (block 516).

The electronic device (121) has known from the schedule management appof the user (501) that the time of the end of the soccer game is 21:00.The electronic device (121) thus temporarily suspends the upload of theposted message and the posted moving image to the social medium, andstores the posted message and the posted moving image in the memory(123) or the storage medium (128) of the electronic device (121), until21:00, which is the time when the user (501) finishes watching thesoccer, at earliest (block 517). Accordingly, the message and the movingimage posted by the user (501) are not published on the social medium inreal time in response to the posting by the user (501). The electronicdevice (121) stores “18:30 on Sep. 1, 2014,” which is the time of day ofthe posting by the user (501), in association with the stored messageand the stored moving image.

The electronic device (121) also continues the temporary suspension ofthe upload of the still image (block 512), along with the temporarysuspension of the upload of the message and the moving image (block517).

The user (501) is moving from Spot B to Spot C (block 521). Theelectronic device (121) optionally obtains the current position of theelectronic device (121), for example, using the GPS function, forexample, at predetermined intervals. The electronic device (121) thendetermines whether the current position of the electronic device (121)is located either at the home of the user (501) or in the vicinity ofthe home, based on the obtained position information. In response to thecurrent position of the electronic device (121) being located neither atthe home of the user (501) nor in the vicinity of the home, theelectronic device (121) continues the suspension (blocks 512 and 517).It should be noted that the electronic device (121) may pause thedetermination of whether the current position of the electronic device(121) is located either at the home of the user (501) or in the vicinityof the home, until 21:00, which is the time when the user (501) finisheswatching the soccer.

The user (501) has finished watching the soccer game, and has moved fromSpot B to Spot C. The user (501) has entered the message “I've justarrived at Tokyo station.” and posted the message to the social mediumat 21:30 on Sep. 1, 2014, at Spot C (block 522).

In response to the detection of the message having been posted, theelectronic device (121) obtains the current position of the electronicdevice (121), for example, using the GPS function, in order to determinewhether the message may be uploaded to the social medium for thepublication. The electronic device (121) determines whether the currentposition of the electronic device (121) is located either at the home ofthe user (501) or in the vicinity of the home, based on the obtainedposition information. In response to the current position of theelectronic device (121) being located neither at the home of the user(501) nor in the vicinity of the home, the electronic device (121)temporarily suspends the upload of the posted message to the socialmedium, and stores the posted message in the memory (123) or the storagemedium (128) of the electronic device (121) (block 523). Accordingly,the message posted by the user (501) is not published on the socialmedium in real time in response to the posting by the user (501). Theelectronic device (121) stores “21:30 on Sep. 1, 2014,” which is thetime of day of the posting by the user (501), in association with thestored message.

Moreover, the electronic device (121) knows that the current position isat Tokyo station, based on the obtained position information. Theelectronic device (121) thus reads an electronic timetable, for example,via a network, to calculate the shortest time required to arrive at thestation nearest from the home, for example. The electronic device (121)then calculates a sum of the calculated time and an average walking timefrom the nearest station to the home, and predicts time until the user(501) arrives at the home from Tokyo station.

For the posting of the still image for which transmission to the servercomputer (201) has been suspended in block 512, the electronic device(121) adds total time (α) of already elapsed time (four hours) and thepredicted time, to 17:30 on Sep. 1, 2014, and plans to post the stillimage at the added time of day (17:30+α).

Similarly, for the posting of the message and the moving image for whichtransmission to the server computer (201) has been suspended in block517, the electronic device (121) adds total time (β) of the alreadyelapsed time (three hours) and the predicted time, to 18:30 on Sep. 1,2014, and plans to post the message and the moving image at the addedtime of day (18:30+β).

Similarly, for the posting of the message for which transmission to theserver computer (201) has been suspended in block 523, the electronicdevice (121) adds the predicted time (γ) to 21:30 on Sep. 1, 2014, andplans to post the message at the added time of day (21:30+γ).

The user (501) is moving from Spot C to the home (block 527). Inresponse to the time of day 17:30+α having elapsed, before the user(501) returns to the home, the electronic device (121) uploads the stillimage temporarily suspended in block 512, to the server computer (201)(block 513). The server computer (201) immediately publishes thereceived still image to the social medium (block 514). The servercomputer (201) uses the posting date and time (17:30) associated withthe received still image, as the posting date and time to be displayedwhen the still image is published on the server computer, and publishesthe posting date and time to all users (block 515).

Similarly, in response to the time of day 18:30+β having elapsed, beforethe user (501) returns to the home, the electronic device (121) uploadsthe message and the moving image temporarily suspended in block 517, tothe server computer (201) (block 518). The server computer (201)immediately publishes the received message and the received moving imageto the social medium (block 519). The server computer (201) uses theposting date and time (18:30) associated with the received message andthe received moving image, as the posting date and time to be displayedwhen the message and the moving image are published on the servercomputer, and publishes the posting date and time to all users (block520).

Similarly, in response to the time of day 21:30+γ having elapsed, beforethe user (501) returns to the home, the electronic device (121) uploadsthe message temporarily suspended in block 523, to the server computer(201) (block 524). The server computer (201) publishes the receivedmessage to the social medium (block 525). The server computer (201) usesthe posting date and time (21:30) associated with the received message,as the posting date and time to be displayed when the message ispublished on the server computer, and publishes the posting date andtime to all users (block 526).

The user (501) has arrived at his/her home apartment. In response tohis/her return to the home apartment, the user (501) has held theelectronic device (121) close to an entrance door lock (cylinder IClock) provided at an entrance of the apartment, for unlocking (block528).

The electronic device (121) has communicated with the entrance doorlock, and detected that the current position of the electronic device(121) is at the home of the user (501), in response to the unlocking.

In response to the current position of the electronic device (121) beingat the home of the user (501) (that is, the presence of the user (501)at the home), if some or all of the suspension (blocks 512, 517 and 523)have still continued, the electronic device (121) uploads all of thecontent that has been continually suspended, to the server computer(201) that manages the posting of the content to the social medium, forthe publication, without waiting for each of the time of day 17:30+α,18:30+β and 21:30+γ (that is, without waiting for the elapse of each ofthe time α, β and γ) (block 529).

The server computer (201) receives all of the content that has beensuspended (blocks 512, 517 and 523), from the electronic device (121).The server computer (201) then publishes all of the received content tothe social medium (blocks 514, 519 and 525). The server computer (201)uses each posting date and time associated with each piece of thereceived content, as each posting date and time to be displayed wheneach piece of the content is published on the server computer, andpublishes the posting date and time to all users. Accordingly, theserver computer (201) publishes the posting date and time indicatingthat the still image has been posted at 17:30 on Sep. 1, 2014; publishesthe posting date and time indicating that the message “I'm watchingsoccer now.” and the moving image have been posted at 18:30 on Sep. 1,2014; and publishes the posting date and time indicating that themessage “I've just arrived at Tokyo station.” has been posted at 21:30on Sep. 1, 2014 (blocks 515, 520 and 526). Accordingly, the still image,the message “I'm watching soccer now.” and the moving image, as well asthe message “I've just arrived at Tokyo station.” are published on thesocial medium in order of the time of day of the posting by the user(501).

In this way, the still image, the message “I'm watching soccer now.” andthe moving image, as well as the message “I've just arrived at Tokyostation.” are published at earlier of: in response to prediction of timeof day of the arrival of the user (501) at the home or in the vicinityof the home, and elapse of the predicted time of day; or in response tothe user (501) having returned to the home. Accordingly, the absence ofthe user (501) during such a time span is unknown to the third party,and the criminal act such as sneak thievery can thus be prevented.Moreover, since the still image, the message “I'm watching soccer now.”and the moving image, as well as the message “I've just arrived at Tokyostation.” are published on the social medium in order of the time of dayof the posting by the user (501), the posting time of day for each pieceof the content cannot be out of order.

FIG. 6 is an example of the posting of the content to the social mediumand the publication of the content, and illustrates an aspect in whichthe server computer (201) determines whether the publication of theposted content is enabled, by reading time until a user (601) leaves acurrent position, from a schedule of the user (601), and also predictingtime until the user (601) arrives at his/her home.

The user (601) is assumed to be carrying the electronic device (121)(for example, the tablet terminal). The user (601) is assumed to haveselected a trigger option for temporarily suspending the publication ofthe content to the social medium if the electronic device (121) is notlocated at the home of the user (601) or in the vicinity of the home(for example, within a range in which the electronic device (121) canconnect to a LAN access point at the home of the user (601) or in anapartment where the home is located).

The user (601) has shot the still image of the tower building at Spot A,using the camera function of the electronic device (121). The user (601)has then posted the shot still image from the electronic device (121) tothe social medium at 17:30 on Sep. 1, 2014 (block 611). The posting isperformed through pressing the post button displayed on the screen ofthe electronic device (121) (the same applies to the followings).

In response to the detection of the still image having been posted, theelectronic device (121) associates the still image with “17:30 on Sep.1, 2014,” which is time of day of the posting by the user (601), anduploads the still image associated with this posting time to the servercomputer (201) that manages the posting of the content to the socialmedium, for the publication (block 611).

The server computer (201) receives the still image from the electronicdevice (121). The server computer (201) then obtains the currentposition of the electronic device (121) from the electronic device (121)or from the server computer collecting the current position of theelectronic device (121) (which may be the same as or different from theserver computer (201)), in order to determine whether the received stillimage may be published to the social medium. The server computer (201)determines whether the current position of the electronic device (121)is located either at the home of the user (601) or in the vicinity ofthe home, based on the obtained position information. In response to thecurrent position of the electronic device (121) being located neither atthe home of the user (601) nor in the vicinity of the home, the servercomputer (201) temporarily suspends the publication of the posted stillimage to the social medium, and stores the posted still image in thememory (203) or the storage medium (208) of the server computer (201)(block 612). The stored still image has been associated with “17:30 onSep. 1, 2014,” which is the time of day of the posting by the user(601). Accordingly, the still image posted by the user (601) is notpublished on the social medium in real time in response to the postingby the user (601).

Moreover, the server computer (201) reads the schedule of the user (601)on Sep. 1, 2014, from a server computer (which may be the same as ordifferent from the server computer (201)) having stored schedulemanagement data of the user (601) associated with the electronic device(121). The server computer (201) then knows that the user (601) hasplanned to go to watch the soccer game after this. The server computer(201) thus knows that the suspension (block 612) needs to be continueduntil 21:00, which is the time of the end of the soccer game, atearliest. Accordingly, the still image posted by the user (601) is notpublished on the social medium in real time in response to the postingby the user (601).

Moreover, the server computer (201) may pause the process of determiningwhether the still image may be uploaded to the social medium for thepublication, based on the current position information on the electronicdevice (121), until 21:00, which is the time of the end of the soccergame, at earliest.

The user (601) is moving from Spot A to Spot B (block 613). The servercomputer (201) obtains the current position of the electronic device(121) from the electronic device (121) or from the server computercollecting the current position of the electronic device (121) (whichmay be the same as or different from the server computer (201)), forexample, at predetermined intervals. The server computer (201) thendetermines whether the current position of the electronic device (121)is located either at the home of the user (601) or in the vicinity ofthe home, based on the obtained position information. In response to thecurrent position of the electronic device (121) being located neither atthe home of the user (601) nor in the vicinity of the home, the servercomputer (201) continues the suspension (block 612). Alternatively, theserver computer (201) may stop the determination of whether the currentposition of the electronic device (121) is located either at the home ofthe user (601) or in the vicinity of the home, until time when the user(601) finishes watching the soccer.

The user (601) has moved from Spot A to Spot B. The user (601) has shotthe goal moment in the soccer game as the moving image at Spot B, usingthe video function of the electronic device (121). The user (601) hasthen entered the message “I'm watching soccer now.” and posted themoving image along with the message to the social medium at 18:30 onSep. 1, 2014 (block 614).

In response to the detection of the message and the moving image havingbeen posted, the electronic device (121) associates the message and themoving image with “18:30 on Sep. 1, 2014,” which is the time of day ofthe posting by the user (601), and uploads the message and the movingimage associated with this posting time to the server computer (201)that manages the posting of the content to the social medium, for thepublication (block 614).

The server computer (201) has known from the schedule management data ofthe user (601) that the time of the end of the soccer game is 21:00. Theserver computer (201) thus temporarily suspends the upload of the postedmessage and the posted moving image to the social medium, and stores theposted message and the posted moving image in the memory (203) or thestorage medium (208) of the server computer (201), until 21:00, which isthe time when the user (601) finishes watching the soccer, at earliest(block 615). The stored message and the stored moving image have beenassociated with “18:30 on Sep. 1, 2014,” which is the time of day of theposting by the user (601). Accordingly, the message and the moving imageposted by the user (601) are not published on the social medium in realtime in response to the posting by the user (601).

The server computer (201) also continues the temporary suspension of theupload of the still image (block 612), along with the temporarysuspension of the upload of the message and the moving image (block615).

The user (601) is moving from Spot B to Spot C (block 616). The servercomputer (201) optionally obtains the current position of the electronicdevice (121) from the electronic device (121) or from the servercomputer collecting the current position of the electronic device (121),for example, at predetermined intervals. The server computer (201) thendetermines whether the current position of the electronic device (121)is located either at the home of the user (601) or in the vicinity ofthe home, based on the obtained position information. In response to thecurrent position of the electronic device (121) being located neither atthe home of the user (601) nor in the vicinity of the home, the servercomputer (201) continues the suspension (blocks 612 and 615). It shouldbe noted that the server computer (201) may pause the determination ofwhether the current position of the electronic device (121) is locatedeither at the home of the user (601) or in the vicinity of the home,until 21:00, which is the time when the user (601) finishes watching thesoccer.

The user (601) has finished watching the soccer game, and has moved fromSpot B to Spot C. The user (601) has entered the message “I've justarrived at Tokyo station.” and posted the message to the social mediumat 21:30 on Sep. 1, 2014, at Spot C (block 617).

In response to the detection of the message having been posted, theelectronic device (121) associates the message with “21:30 on Sep. 1,2014,” which is the time of day of the posting by the user (601), anduploads the message associated with this posting time to the servercomputer (201) that manages the posting of the content to the socialmedium, for the publication (block 617).

The server computer (201) receives the message from the electronicdevice (121). The server computer (201) then obtains the currentposition of the electronic device (121) from the electronic device (121)or from the server computer collecting the current position of theelectronic device (121), in order to determine whether the receivedmessage may be published to the social medium. The server computer (201)determines whether the current position of the electronic device (121)is located either at the home of the user (601) or in the vicinity ofthe home, based on the obtained position information. In response to thecurrent position of the electronic device (121) being located neither atthe home of the user (601) nor in the vicinity of the home, the servercomputer (201) temporarily suspends the publication of the receivedmessage to the social medium, and stores the received message in thememory (203) or the storage medium (208) of the server computer (201)(block 618). The stored message has been associated with “21:30 on Sep.1, 2014,” which is the time of day of the posting by the user (601).Accordingly, the message posted by the user (601) is not published onthe social medium in real time in response to the posting by the user(601).

Moreover, the server computer (201) knows that the current position isat Tokyo station, based on the obtained position information. The servercomputer (201) thus reads the electronic timetable, for example, via thenetwork, to calculate the shortest time required to arrive at thestation nearest from the home of the user (601), for example. The servercomputer (201) then calculates the sum of the calculated time and theaverage walking time from the nearest station to the home, and predictstime until the user (601) arrives at the home from Tokyo station.

For the posting of the still image for which transmission to the servercomputer (201) has been suspended in block 612, the server computer(201) adds total time (T1) of the already elapsed time (four hours) andthe predicted time, to 17:30 on Sep. 1, 2014, and plans to post thestill image at the added time of day (17:30+T1).

Similarly, for the posting of the message and the moving image for whichtransmission to the server computer (201) has been suspended in block615, the server computer (201) adds total time (T2) of the alreadyelapsed time (three hours) and the predicted time, to 18:30 on Sep. 1,2014, and plans to post the message and the moving image at the addedtime of day (18:30+T2).

Similarly, for the posting of the message for which transmission to theserver computer (201) has been suspended in block 618, the servercomputer (201) adds the predicted time (T3) to 21:30 on Sep. 1, 2014,and plans to post the message at the added time of day (21:30+T3).

The user (601) is moving from Spot C to the home (block 619). Inresponse to the time of day 17:30+T1 having elapsed, before the user(601) returns to the home, the server computer (201) publishes the stillimage temporarily suspended in block 612 (block 620). The servercomputer (201) uses the posting date and time (17:30) associated withthe published still image, as the posting date and time to be displayedwhen the still image is published on the server computer, and publishesthe posting date and time to all users (block 621).

Similarly, in response to the time of day 18:30+T2 having elapsed,before the user (601) returns to the home, the server computer (201)publishes the message and the moving image temporarily suspended inblock 615 (block 622). The server computer (201) uses the posting dateand time (18:30) associated with the published message and the publishedmoving image, as the posting date and time to be displayed when themessage and the moving image are published on the server computer, andpublishes the posting date and time to all users (block 623).

Similarly, in response to the time of day 21:30+T3 having elapsed,before the user (601) returns to the home, the server computer (201)publishes the message temporarily suspended in block 618 (block 624).The server computer (201) uses the posting date and time (21:30)associated with the published message, as the posting date and time tobe displayed when the message is published on the server computer, andpublishes the posting date and time to all users (block 625).

The user (601) has arrived at his/her home apartment. In response tohis/her return to the home apartment, the user (601) has held theelectronic device (121) close to the entrance door lock (cylinder IClock) provided at the entrance of the apartment, for unlocking (block626).

The electronic device (121) has communicated with the entrance doorlock, and detected that the current position of the electronic device(121) is at the home of the user (601), in response to the unlocking. Inresponse to the current position of the electronic device (121) being atthe home of the user (601) (that is, the presence of the user (601) atthe home), the electronic device (121) notifies the server computer(201) of the arrival of the user (601) at the home (block 627).

The server computer (201) knows the arrival of the user (601) at thehome, from the notification from the electronic device (121).

In response to the current position of the electronic device (121) beingat the home of the user (601) (that is, the presence of the user (601)at the home), if some or all of the suspension (blocks 612, 615 and 618)have still continued, the server computer (201) publishes all of thecontent that has been continually suspended, without waiting for each ofthe time of day 17:30+T1, 18:30+T2 and 21:30+T3 (that is, withoutwaiting for the elapse of each of the time T1, T2 and T3) (blocks 620,622 and 624). Accordingly, the server computer (201) publishes theposting date and time indicating that the still image has been posted at17:30 on Sep. 1, 2014; publishes the posting date and time indicatingthat the message “I'm watching soccer now.” and the moving image havebeen posted at 18:30 on Sep. 1, 2014; and publishes the posting date andtime indicating that the message “I've just arrived at Tokyo station.”has been posted at 21:30 on Sep. 1, 2014 (blocks 621, 623 and 625).Accordingly, the still image, the message “I'm watching soccer now.” andthe moving image, as well as the message “I've just arrived at Tokyostation.” are published on the social medium in order of the time of dayof the posting by the user.

In this way, the still image, the message “I'm watching soccer now.” andthe moving image, as well as the message “I've just arrived at Tokyostation.” are published at earlier of: in response to prediction of timeof day of the arrival of the user (601) at the home or in the vicinityof the home, and elapse of the predicted time of day; or in response tothe user (601) having returned to the home. Accordingly, the absence ofthe user (601) during such a time span is unknown to the third party,and the criminal act such as sneak thievery can thus be prevented.Moreover, since the still image, the message “I'm watching soccer now.”and the moving image, as well as the message “I've just arrived at Tokyostation.” are published on the social medium in order of the time of dayof the posting by the user (601), the posting time of day for each pieceof the content cannot be out of order.

FIG. 7 is an example of the posting of the content to the social mediumand the publication of the content, and illustrates an aspect in whichthe electronic device (121) determines whether the publication of theposted content is enabled, in response to a user (701) having left alocation designated by the user (701).

The user (701) is a celebrity who posts scenes of dining at restaurantsto his/her blog and thereby attracts public attention.

The user (701) is assumed to be carrying the electronic device (121)(for example, the smartphone). The user (701) is assumed to haveselected a trigger option for temporarily suspending the posting of thecontent to the social medium if the electronic device (121) is locatedat a predetermined public location or in the vicinity of the publiclocation (for example, at a distance within 1 km around the publiclocation). The predetermined public location is assumed to be arestaurant, a shopping mall, or a sports stadium (for example, a soccerstadium or a baseball stadium), for example.

The user (701) has shot a still image of ramen ordered at therestaurant, at Spot A, using the camera function of the electronicdevice (121). The user (701) has then posted the shot still image fromthe electronic device (121) to the social medium at 17:30 on Sep. 1,2014 (block 711). The posting is performed through pressing the postbutton displayed on the screen of the electronic device (121) (the sameapplies to the followings).

In response to detection of the still image having been posted, theelectronic device (121) obtains the current position of the electronicdevice (121), for example, using the GPS function of the electronicdevice (121), in order to determine whether the still image may beuploaded to the social medium for publication. The electronic device(121) determines whether the current position of the electronic device(121) is located either at the predetermined public location or in thevicinity of the predetermined public location, based on the obtainedposition information. In response to the current position of theelectronic device (121) being at the restaurant, the electronic device(121) temporarily suspends the upload of the posted still image to thesocial medium, and stores the posted still image in the memory (123) orthe storage medium (128) of the electronic device (121) (block 712).Accordingly, the still image posted by the user (701) is not publishedon the social medium in real time in response to the posting by the user(701). The electronic device (121) stores “17:30 on Sep. 1, 2014,” whichis time of day of the posting by the user (701), in association with thestored still image.

The user (701) is moving from Spot A to Spot B (block 713). Theelectronic device (121) obtains the current position of the electronicdevice (121), for example, using the GPS function, for example, atpredetermined intervals. The electronic device (121) then determineswhether the current position of the electronic device (121) is locatedeither at the predetermined public location or in the vicinity of thepredetermined public location, based on the obtained positioninformation.

In response to the current position of the electronic device (121) beingeither at the predetermined public location or in the vicinity of thepredetermined public location, the electronic device (121) continues thesuspension (block 712).

In contrast, in response to the current position of the electronicdevice (121) being neither at the predetermined public location nor inthe vicinity of the predetermined public location, the electronic device(121) cancels the suspension (block 712), and uploads the suspendedstill image to the server computer (201) that manages the posting of thecontent to the social medium, for the publication (block 714). Theserver computer (201) receives the still image from the electronicdevice (121). The server computer (201) then immediately publishes thereceived still image to the social medium (block 715). The servercomputer (201) uses posting date and time associated with the receivedstill image, as posting date and time to be displayed when the stillimage is published on the server computer, and publishes the postingdate and time to all users. Accordingly, the server computer (201)publishes the posting date and time indicating that the still image hasbeen posted at 17:30 on Sep. 1, 2014 (block 716).

The user (701) has moved from Spot A to Spot B. The user (701) has shotthe goal moment in the soccer game as the moving image at Spot B, usingthe video function of the electronic device (121). The user (701) hasthen entered the message “I'm watching soccer now.” and posted themoving image along with the message to the social medium at 18:30 onSep. 1, 2014 (block 717).

In response to the detection of the message and the moving image havingbeen posted, the electronic device (121) obtains the current position ofthe electronic device (121), for example, using the GPS function, inorder to determine whether the message and the moving image may beuploaded to the social medium for the publication. The electronic device(121) determines whether the current position of the electronic device(121) is located either at the predetermined public location or in thevicinity of the predetermined public location, based on the obtainedposition information. In response to the current position of theelectronic device (121) being located either at the predetermined publiclocation or in the vicinity of the predetermined public location, theelectronic device (121) temporarily suspends the upload of the postedmessage and the posted moving image to the social medium, and stores theposted message and the posted moving image in the memory (123) or thestorage medium (128) of the electronic device (121) (block 718).Accordingly, the message and the moving image posted by the user (701)are not published on the social medium in real time in response to theposting by the user (701). The electronic device (121) stores “18:30 onSep. 1, 2014,” which is the time of day of the posting by the user(701), in association with the stored message and the stored movingimage.

The user (701) has finished watching the soccer game, and is moving fromSpot B to Spot C (block 719). The electronic device (121) obtains thecurrent position of the electronic device (121), for example, using theGPS function, for example, at predetermined intervals. The electronicdevice (121) then determines whether the current position of theelectronic device (121) is located either at the predetermined publiclocation or in the vicinity of the predetermined public location, basedon the obtained position information.

In response to the current position of the electronic device (121) beingeither at the predetermined public location or in the vicinity of thepredetermined public location, the electronic device (121) continues thesuspension (block 718).

In contrast, in response to the current position of the electronicdevice (121) being neither at the predetermined public location nor inthe vicinity of the predetermined public location, the electronic device(121) cancels the suspension (block 718), and uploads the suspendedmessage and the suspended moving image to the server computer (201) thatmanages the posting of the content to the social medium, for thepublication (block 720). The server computer (201) receives the messageand the moving image from the electronic device (121). The servercomputer (201) then immediately publishes the received message and thereceived moving image to the social medium (block 721). The servercomputer (201) uses the posting date and time associated with thereceived message and the received moving image, as the posting date andtime to be displayed when the message and the moving image are publishedon the server computer, and publishes the posting date and time to allusers. Accordingly, the server computer (201) publishes the posting dateand time indicating that the message and the moving image have beenposted at 18:30 on Sep. 1, 2014 (block 722).

The user (701) has finished watching the soccer game, and has moved fromSpot B to Spot C. The user (701) has entered the message “I've justarrived at Tokyo station.” and posted the message to the social mediumat 21:30 on Sep. 1, 2014, at Spot C (block 723). In this case, the user(701) is assumed to have selected an option “Immediately publish tofriends”.

In response to the detection of the message having been posted, theelectronic device (121) determines whether the message may be uploadedto the social medium for the publication.

In response to the option “Immediately publish to friends” beingattached to the posting, the electronic device (121) attachesinformation “Immediately publish to friends only” to the posted message,and uploads the message to the server computer (201) (block 724). Theserver computer (201) receives the message from the electronic device(121). The server computer (201) then immediately publishes the receivedmessage to the social medium, under restriction of “Immediately publishto friends only” (block 725). The server computer (201) uses the postingdate and time associated with the received message, as the posting dateand time to be displayed when the message is published on the servercomputer, and publishes the posting date and time only to friendsdesignated by the user (701). Moreover, the server computer (201)publishes the posting date and time indicating that the message has beenposted at 21:30 on Sep. 1, 2014 (block 726).

Moreover, in response to the current position of the electronic device(121) being either at the predetermined public location or in thevicinity of the predetermined public location, and the option“Immediately publish to friends” being attached to the posting, theelectronic device (121) stores information on the option “Immediatelypublish to friends” being attached to the posted message, in the memory(123) or the storage medium (128) of the electronic device (121) (block727). The electronic device (121) stores “21:30 on Sep. 1, 2014,” whichis the time of day of the posting by the user (701), in association withthe stored message.

Accordingly, the message posted by the user (701) is not published toall users on the social medium in real time in response to the postingby the user (701), but is published in real time only to the friendsdesignated by the user (701).

The user (701) is moving from Spot C to his/her home (block 728). Theelectronic device (121) obtains the current position of the electronicdevice (121), for example, using the GPS function, for example, atpredetermined intervals. The electronic device (121) then determineswhether the current position of the electronic device (121) is locatedeither at the predetermined public location or in the vicinity of thepredetermined public location, based on the obtained positioninformation. In response to the current position of the electronicdevice (121) being either at the predetermined public location or in thevicinity of the predetermined public location, electronic device (121)continues to maintain the information on the option “Immediately publishto friends” being attached to the posted message (block 727).

The user (701) has arrived at the home. In response to his/her return tothe home, the user (701) has placed the electronic device (121) in thecradle for charging (block 729).

In response to the placement in the cradle, the electronic device (121)has detected that the current position of the electronic device (121) isat the home of the user (701). The Near Field Communication (NFC) tag isprovided in the cradle, and the electronic device (121) may detect thatthe current position of the electronic device (121) is at the home ofthe user (701), in response to the detection of the NFC tag. Theelectronic device (121) may alternatively obtain the current position ofthe electronic device (121), for example, using the GPS function, inresponse to the placement in the cradle.

In response to the current position of the electronic device (121) beingat the home of the user (701) (that is, the presence of the user (701)at the home), in order to publish the message for which the publicationhas been restricted to the friends only (block 725), to all users, theelectronic device (121) notifies the server computer (201) that managesthe posting of the content to the social medium, of an instruction topublish the message to all users (block 730).

The server computer (201) receives the notification from the electronicdevice (121). The server computer (201) changes setting so that themessage for which the publication has been restricted to the friendsonly (block 725) is published to all users (block 731). Accordingly, themessage “I've just arrived at Tokyo station.” is published to all userson the social medium.

In this way, since the still image, the message “I'm watching soccernow.” and the moving image are not published in response to the user(701) being at the predetermined location or in the vicinity thereof,his/her presence at the location is unknown, and the third party canthus be prevented from barging into a location where the user (701) is.Moreover, the publication of the content can be limited to specificusers in response to the user (701) being at the predetermined locationor in the vicinity thereof, while the setting can be automaticallychanged so that the content is published to all users, in response tothe user (701) leaving the predetermined location or the vicinitythereof. Accordingly, a role as a transmitter of information to anunspecified large number of people, which is one of purposes of socialmedia, can be fulfilled. Furthermore, since the still image, the message“I'm watching soccer now.” and the moving image, as well as the message“I've just arrived at Tokyo station.” are published on the social mediumin order of the time of day of the posting by the user (701), theposting time of day for each piece of the content cannot be out oforder.

FIG. 8 is an example of the posting of the content to the social mediumand the publication of the content, and illustrates an aspect in whichthe server computer (201) determines whether the publication of theposted content is enabled, in response to a user (801) having left alocation designated by the user (801).

The user (801) is a celebrity who posts scenes of dining at restaurantsto his/her blog and thereby attracts public attention. The user (801) isassumed to be carrying the electronic device (121) (for example, thetablet terminal). The user (801) is assumed to have selected a triggeroption for temporarily suspending the posting of the content to thesocial medium if the electronic device (121) is located at apredetermined public location or in the vicinity of the public location(for example, within 15 minutes walking distance from the publiclocation). The predetermined public location is assumed to be arestaurant, a shopping mall, a soccer stadium, or a baseball stadium,for example.

The user (801) has shot the still image of the ramen ordered at therestaurant, at Spot A, using the camera function of the electronicdevice (121). The user (801) has then posted the shot still image fromthe electronic device (121) to the social medium at 17:30 on Sep. 1,2014 (block 811). The posting is performed through pressing the postbutton displayed on the screen of the electronic device (121) (the sameapplies to the followings).

In response to the detection of the still image having been posted, theelectronic device (121) associates the still image with “17:30 on Sep.1, 2014,” which is time of day of the posting by the user (801), anduploads the still image associated with this posting time to the servercomputer (201) that manages the posting of the content to the socialmedium, for the publication (block 811).

The server computer (201) receives the still image from the electronicdevice (121). The server computer (201) then obtains the currentposition of the electronic device (121) from the electronic device (121)or from the server computer collecting the current position of theelectronic device (121) (which may be the same as or different from theserver computer (201)), in order to determine whether the received stillimage may be published to the social medium. The server computer (201)determines whether the current position of the electronic device (121)is located either at the predetermined public location or in thevicinity of the predetermined public location, based on the obtainedposition information. In response to the current position of theelectronic device (121) being located either at the predetermined publiclocation or in the vicinity of the predetermined public location, theserver computer (201) temporarily suspends the publication of the postedstill image to the social medium, and stores the posted still image inthe memory (203) or the storage medium (208) of the server computer(201) (block 812). Accordingly, the still image posted by the user (801)is not published on the social medium in real time in response to theposting by the user (801).

The user (801) is moving from Spot A to Spot B (block 813). The servercomputer (201) obtains the current position of the electronic device(121) from the electronic device (121) or from the server computercollecting the current position of the electronic device (121) (whichmay be the same as or different from the server computer (201)), forexample, at predetermined intervals. The server computer (201) thendetermines whether the current position of the electronic device (121)is located either at the predetermined public location or in thevicinity of the predetermined public location, based on the obtainedposition information.

In response to the current position of the electronic device (121) beinglocated either at the predetermined public location or in the vicinityof the predetermined public location, the server computer (201)continues the suspension (block 812).

In contrast, in response to the current position of the electronicdevice (121) being neither at the predetermined public location nor inthe vicinity of the predetermined public location, the server computer(201) cancels the suspension (block 812), and immediately publishes thesuspended still image (block 814). The server computer (201) uses theposting date and time associated with the suspended still image, as theposting date and time to be displayed when the still image is publishedon the server computer, and publishes the posting date and time to allusers. Accordingly, the server computer (201) publishes the posting dateand time indicating that the still image has been posted at 17:30 onSep. 1, 2014 (block 815).

The user (801) has moved from Spot A to Spot B. The user (801) has shotthe goal moment in the soccer game as the moving image at Spot B, usingthe video function of the electronic device (121). The user (801) hasthen entered the message “I'm watching soccer now.” and posted themoving image along with the message to the social medium at 18:30 onSep. 1, 2014 (block 816).

In response to the detection of the message and the moving image havingbeen posted, the electronic device (121) associates the message and themoving image with “18:30 on Sep. 1, 2014,” which is the time of day ofthe posting by the user (801), and uploads the message and the movingimage associated with this posting time to the server computer (201)that manages the posting of the content to the social medium, for thepublication (block 816).

The server computer (201) receives the message and the moving image fromthe electronic device (121). The server computer (201) then obtains thecurrent position of the electronic device (121) from the electronicdevice (121) or from the server computer collecting the current positionof the electronic device (121) (which may be the same as or differentfrom the server computer (201)), in order to determine whether thereceived message and the received moving image may be published to thesocial medium. The server computer (201) determines whether the currentposition of the electronic device (121) is located either at thepredetermined public location or in the vicinity of the predeterminedpublic location, based on the obtained position information. In responseto the current position of the electronic device (121) being locatedeither at the predetermined public location or in the vicinity of thepredetermined public location, the server computer (201) temporarilysuspends the publication of the posted message and the posted movingimage to the social medium, and stores the posted message and the postedmoving image in the memory (203) or the storage medium (208) of theserver computer (201) (block 817). Accordingly, the message and themoving image posted by the user (801) are not published on the socialmedium in real time in response to the posting by the user (801).

The user (801) has finished watching the soccer game, and is moving fromSpot B to Spot C (block 818). The server computer (201) obtains thecurrent position of the electronic device (121) from the electronicdevice (121) or from the server computer collecting the current positionof the electronic device (121), for example, at predetermined intervals.The server computer (201) then determines whether the current positionof the electronic device (121) is located either at the predeterminedpublic location or in the vicinity of the predetermined public location,based on the obtained position information.

In response to the current position of the electronic device (121) beinglocated either at the predetermined public location or in the vicinityof the predetermined public location, the server computer (201)continues the suspension (block 817).

In contrast, in response to the current position of the electronicdevice (121) being neither at the predetermined public location nor inthe vicinity of the predetermined public location, the server computer(201) cancels the suspension (block 817), and immediately publishes thesuspended message and the suspended moving image (block 819). The servercomputer (201) uses the posting date and time associated with thesuspended message and the suspended moving image, as the posting dateand time to be displayed when the message and the moving image arepublished on the server computer, and publishes the posting date andtime to all users. Accordingly, the server computer (201) publishes theposting date and time indicating that the message and the moving imagehave been posted at 18:30 on Sep. 1, 2014 (block 820).

The user (801) has finished watching the soccer game, and has moved fromSpot B to Spot C. The user (801) has entered the message “I've justarrived at Tokyo station.” and posted the message to the social mediumat 21:30 on Sep. 1, 2014, at Spot C (block 821). In this case, the user(801) is assumed to have selected the option “Immediately publish tofriends”.

In response to the detection of the message having been posted, theelectronic device (121) associates the message with “21:30 on Sep. 1,2014,” which is the time of day of the posting by the user (801), anduploads the message associated with this posting time to the servercomputer (201) that manages the posting of the content to the socialmedium, for the publication (block 821). The electronic device (121)also attaches the information “Immediately publish to friends only” tothe message, and uploads the message to the server computer (201) (block821).

The server computer (201) receives the message from the electronicdevice (121). In response to the option “Immediately publish to friends”being attached to the posting, the server computer (201) immediatelypublishes the received message to the social medium, under therestriction of “Immediately publish to friends only” (block 823). Theserver computer (201) uses the posting date and time associated with thereceived message, as the posting date and time to be displayed when themessage is published on the server computer, and publishes the postingdate and time only to friends designated by the user (801). Moreover,the server computer (201) publishes the posting date and time indicatingthat the message has been posted at 21:30 on Sep. 1, 2014 (block 824).

Moreover, in response to the option “Immediately publish to friends”being attached to the posting, the server computer (201) stores themessage in the memory (203) or the storage medium (208) of the servercomputer (201) (block 822).

Accordingly, the message posted by the user (801) is not published toall users on the social medium in real time in response to the postingby the user (801), but is published in real time only to the friendsdesignated by the user (801).

The user (801) is moving from Spot C to his/her home (block 825). Theserver computer (201) obtains the current position of the electronicdevice (121) from the electronic device (121) or from the servercomputer collecting the current position of the electronic device (121),for example, at predetermined intervals. The server computer (201) thendetermines whether the current position of the electronic device (121)is located either at the predetermined public location or in thevicinity of the predetermined public location, based on the obtainedposition information. In response to the current position of theelectronic device (121) being either at the predetermined publiclocation or in the vicinity of the predetermined public location, theserver computer (201) continues the suspension (block 822).

The user (801) has arrived at the home. In response to his/her return tothe home, the user (801) has placed the electronic device (121) in thecradle for charging (block 826).

In response to the placement in the cradle, the electronic device (121)has detected that the current position of the electronic device (121) isat the home of the user (801). The Near Field Communication (NFC) tag isprovided in the cradle, and the electronic device (121) may detect thatthe current position of the electronic device (121) is at the home ofthe user (801), in response to the detection of the NFC tag. Theelectronic device (121) may alternatively obtain the current position ofthe electronic device (121), for example, using the GPS function, inresponse to the placement in the cradle.

In response to the current position of the electronic device (121) beingat the home of the user (801) (that is, the presence of the user (801)at the home), in order to publish the message for which the publicationhas been restricted to the friends only (block 823), to all users, theelectronic device (121) notifies the server computer (201) that managesthe posting of the content to the social medium, of the instruction topublish the message to all users (block 827).

The server computer (201) receives the notification from the electronicdevice (121). The server computer (201) changes the setting so that themessage for which the publication has been restricted to the friendsonly (block 823) is published to all users (block 828). Accordingly, themessage “I've just arrived at Tokyo station.” is published to all userson the social medium.

In this way, since the still image, the message “I'm watching soccernow.” and the moving image are not published in response to the user(801) being at the predetermined location or in the vicinity thereof,his/her presence at the location is unknown, and the third party canthus be prevented from barging into the location where the user (801)is. Moreover, the publication of the content can be limited to thespecific users in response to the user (801) being at the predeterminedlocation or in the vicinity thereof, while the setting can beautomatically changed so that the content is published to all users, inresponse to the user (801) leaving the predetermined location or thevicinity thereof. Accordingly, the role as the transmitter ofinformation to an unspecified large number of people, which is one ofthe purposes of the social media, can be fulfilled. Furthermore, sincethe still image, the message “I'm watching soccer now.” and the movingimage, as well as the message “I've just arrived at Tokyo station.” arepublished on the social medium in order of the time of day of theposting by the user (801), the posting time of day for each piece of thecontent cannot be out of order.

FIGS. 9A and 9B illustrate flowcharts for processes of posting thecontent to the social medium and publishing the content, respectively.

FIG. 9A illustrates a flowchart in the case where whether thepublication is enabled is determined on the electronic device. In block901, the electronic device (121) starts the process of posting thecontent to the social medium. In block 902, the electronic device (121)receives the entry of the content to be posted to the social medium, anddetects the post button having been pressed by the user, in response tothe end of the entry. The electronic device (121) detects that the userhas posted the content to the social medium, depending on the postbutton having been pressed. The electronic device (121) may set date andtime when the post button has been pressed (that is, the posting dateand time for the content), as the posting date and time to be displayedwhen the content is published on the server computer.

The following blocks 903 to 905 are optional blocks. Accordingly, theelectronic device (121) may advance the process from block 902 directlyto block 906 without execution of the process in blocks 903 to 905.

In block 903, the electronic device (121) may determine whether thedetected content includes information indicating shooting date and time.The content including the information indicating the shooting date andtime may be, for example, a picture or a moving image. In response tothe detected content including the information indicating the shootingdate and time, the electronic device (121) advances the process to block904. In contrast, in response to the detected content not including theinformation indicating the shooting date and time, the electronic device(121) advances the process to block 906.

In block 904, in response to the detected content including theinformation indicating the shooting date and time, the electronic device(121) queries the user whether to set the shooting date and time as theposting date and time for the content. In response to the userdesignating the shooting date and time as the posting date and time, theelectronic device (121) advances the process to block 905. In contrast,in response to the user not designating the shooting date and time asthe posting date and time, the electronic device (121) advances theprocess to block 906.

In block 905, in response to the user's instruction to set the shootingdate and time as the posting date and time for the content, theelectronic device (121) replaces the date and time of the posting of thecontent by the user, with the shooting date and time.

In block 906, the electronic device (121) determines whether apublication option for publication to be performed depending on atrigger has been set. The publication option for the publication to beperformed depending on the trigger is information for indicating thatthe content is published when the trigger for performing the publicationis satisfied in the case where the immediate publication of the contentis not enabled. In response to the publication option having been set,the electronic device (121) advances the process to block 907. Incontrast, in response to the publication option not having been set, theelectronic device (121) advances the process to block 910.

In block 907, in the electronic device (121), in response to thepublication option having been set, a client application of theelectronic device (121) does not transmit the content to the servercomputer (201) that manages the posting to the social medium, but storesthe content in the memory (123) or the storage medium (128) (both ofwhich act as buffers) of the electronic device (121), and temporarilysuspends the transmission. The electronic device (121) associates thecontent with the posting date and time when the user has pressed thepost button in block 902, and saves the content in the memory (123) orthe storage medium (128).

In block 908, the electronic device (121) determines whether a triggerfor transmitting the content, for which the transmission has beentemporarily suspended, to the server computer (201) is satisfied.

The electronic device (121) may set each of events listed in thefollowing (1) to (9), for example, as the trigger, and may determinethat the publication of the content is enabled, when the event issatisfied.

(1) Trigger 1: the user has arrived at a location designated by the useror the vicinity of the designated location. The designated location maybe, for example, the user's home or the user's office (particularly, asmall office or a private office). The arrival at the locationdesignated by the user is, for example, the user's arrival at the homeif a predetermined location is the user's home; or the user's return tothe office if the predetermined location is the user's office (forexample, an office managed by the user, or an office that the userbelongs to). An object of this trigger may be to enable reduced risk ofencountering damage, such as sneak thievery, which may be caused due tothe user's absence from the designated location.

(2) Trigger 2: the user has left the location designated by the user orthe vicinity of the designated location. The designated location may be,for example, a public location. The public location is, for example, butnot limited to, a restaurant, a shopping mall, and a sports stadium (forexample, a soccer stadium, or a baseball stadium). An object of thistrigger may be to enable prevention of occurrence of confusion even if athird party having read the content barges into the location where theuser was, since the user is already absent from the location.

(3) Trigger 3: the user is absent from the location designated by theuser or the vicinity of the designated location. The same object asstated in the Trigger 1 may be accomplished.

(4) Trigger 4: time until the user arrives at the location designated bythe user from the current position has been predicted, and the predictedtime has elapsed. The same object as stated in the Trigger 1 may beaccomplished.

(5) Trigger 5: time until the user leaves the current position has beenread from an electronic schedule, and the time has elapsed. The sameobject as stated in the Trigger 2 may be accomplished.

(6) Trigger 6: the time until the user leaves the current position hasbeen predicted, and the predicted time has elapsed. The same object asstated in the Trigger 2 may be accomplished.

(7) Trigger 7: a certain time has elapsed. The same object as stated inthe Trigger 1, or as stated in the Trigger 2 is accomplished. Thecertain time may be, for example, average time until the arrival at thedesignated location or the vicinity of the designated location, in orderto accomplish the same object as stated in the Trigger 1. The certaintime may be, for example, time until the user moves sufficiently awayfrom the designated location or the vicinity of the designated location,in order to accomplish the same object as stated in the Trigger 2.

(8) Trigger 8: a party other than the user has arrived at the locationdesignated by the user or the vicinity of the designated location. Thesame object as stated in the Trigger 1 may be accomplished. The partyother than the user may be, for example, a family member of the user(particularly, an adult male, for example) if the predetermined locationis the user's home; or an employee of the office if the predeterminedlocation is the user's office (for example, the office managed by theuser, or the office that the user belongs to).

(9) Trigger 9: the party other than the user is at the locationdesignated by the user. The same object as stated in the Trigger 1 maybe accomplished. The party other than the user has been described above.

Moreover, in block 908, if the current position information on theelectronic device (121) is required to determine whether the trigger issatisfied, the electronic device (121) obtains the current position ofthe electronic device (121), using an approach for obtaining theposition information. The electronic device (121) may arbitrarily use anapproach for obtaining the position information according to GPS, amethod of obtaining the position information through an access point forWi-Fi or the like, a method of obtaining the position informationthrough a mobile telephone base station (also referred to as “cell-IDmethod”), or a combination thereof, for example, as the approach forobtaining the position information.

Moreover, in block 908, if the user's schedule data is required todetermine whether the trigger is satisfied, the electronic device (121)may read the user's schedule from, for example, the electronic schedule,for example, the schedule management app or agenda software. Data of theelectronic schedule may be located in the electronic device (121), ormay be located in a network storage medium accessible by the electronicdevice (121) or in a server computer that manages the electronicschedule data.

In block 908, in response to the trigger being satisfied, the electronicdevice (121) advances the process to block 909. In contrast, in responseto the trigger not being satisfied, the electronic device (121) repeatsthe determination block in block 908 until the trigger is satisfied.

Moreover, in block 908, the electronic device (121) may optionallydetermine whether the immediate publication of the posted content tosome of the users of the social medium is enabled, and in response tothe immediate publication of the posted content to the some of the usersbeing enabled, the electronic device (121) may attach informationallowing the immediate publication to the some of the users, to theposted content, and transmit the posted content with the information tothe server computer (201). The information allowing the immediatepublication may be, for example, a flag or a tag.

In block 909, in response to the trigger being satisfied, the electronicdevice (121) transmits the posting date and time when the content hasbeen posted by the user (which will have a time lag from transmissiondate and time, due to the temporary suspension in block 907), as thetransmission date and time, along with the content to the servercomputer (201).

In block 910, in the electronic device (121), in response to thepublication option, which is for the publication to be performeddepending on the trigger, not having been set, the client application ofthe electronic device (121) immediately transmits the transmission dateand time (which is the same or substantially the same as the postingdate and time when the content has been posted by the user), along withthe content to the server computer (201).

In block 911, the electronic device (121) ends the process of postingthe content. In block 921, the server computer (201) starts the processof publishing the content.

In block 922, the server computer (201) receives the content and thetransmission date and time for the content, which have been transmittedfrom the electronic device (121). If the content is the contenttransmitted from the electronic device (121) in block 909, thetransmission date and time is the posting date and time when the contenthas been posted by the user. If the content is the content transmittedfrom the electronic device (121) in block 910, the transmission date andtime is the transmission date and time when the electronic device (121)has transmitted the content.

In block 923, in response to receiving the content in block 922, theserver computer (201) publishes the content transmitted from theelectronic device (121), to the social medium. The posting date and timeto be displayed when the content is published on the server computer(201) is the posting date and time of the posting by the user, if thecontent is the content transmitted from the electronic device (121) inblock 909 (accordingly, the transmission date and time that is used asthe posting date and time to be displayed when the content is publishedon the server computer (201) is date and time prior to transmission dateand time when the electronic device (121) has actually transmitted thecontent to the server computer (201)). Moreover, the posting date andtime to be displayed when the content is published on the servercomputer (201) is the transmission date and time when the content hasbeen actually transmitted from the electronic device (121), if thecontent is the content transmitted from the electronic device (121) inblock 910 (accordingly, the posting date and time to be displayed whenthe content is published on the server computer (201) is the same orsubstantially the same as the transmission date and time when theelectronic device (121) has actually transmitted the content to theserver computer (201)).

Moreover, in block 923, if the information allowing the immediatepublication to some of the users of the social medium has been attachedto the content received in block 922, the server computer (201) mayoptionally allow the immediate publication of the content only to someof the users, and immediately publish the content.

In block 924, the server computer (201) ends the process of publishingthe content.

FIG. 9B illustrates a flowchart in the case where whether thepublication is enabled is determined on the server computer. In block931, the electronic device (121) starts the process of posting thecontent to the social medium.

Each process in blocks 932 to 935 is the same as each process in blocks902 to 905 illustrated in FIG. 9A. Accordingly, for content of each ofblocks 932 to 935, the above description about each of blocks 902 to 905illustrated in FIG. 9A should be referred to.

In block 936, the electronic device (121) determines whether thepublication option has been set, which is for the publication to beperformed depending on the trigger for performing the publication in thecase where the immediate publication of the content is not enabled. Inresponse to the publication option having been set, the electronicdevice (121) advances the process to block 937. In contrast, in responseto the publication option not having been set, the electronic device(121) advances the process to block 938.

In block 937, in response to the publication option having been set, theelectronic device (121) immediately transmits the posting date and timewhen the content has been posted by the user, as the transmission dateand time, along with the content to the server computer (201). Theelectronic device (121) also transmits information indicating that thecontent has the publication option for the publication to be performeddepending on the trigger, along with the content to the server computer(201).

Moreover, in block 937, the electronic device (121) may optionallydetermine whether the immediate publication of the posted content tosome of the users of the social medium is enabled, and in response tothe immediate publication of the posted content to some of the usersbeing enabled, the electronic device (121) may attach the informationallowing the immediate publication to some of the users, to the postedcontent, and transmit the posted content with the information to theserver computer (201). The information allowing the immediatepublication may be, for example, a flag or a tag.

In block 938, in response to the publication option, which is for thepublication to be performed depending on the trigger, not having beenset, the electronic device (121) immediately transmits the transmissiondate and time (which is the same or substantially the same as theposting date and time when the content has been posted by the user),along with the content to the server computer (201).

In block 939, the electronic device (121) ends the process of postingthe content. In block 941, the server computer (201) starts the processof publishing the content.

In block 942, the server computer (201) receives the content and thetransmission date and time for the content, which have been transmittedfrom the electronic device (121). Moreover, if the content is thecontent transmitted from the electronic device (121) in block 937, theserver computer (201) receives the information transmitted in block 937,that is, the information indicating that the content has the publicationoption for the publication to be performed depending on the trigger,along with the content. If the received content is the contenttransmitted from the electronic device (121) in block 937, thetransmission date and time is the posting date and time when the contenthas been posted by the user. If the received content is the contenttransmitted from the electronic device (121) in block 938, thetransmission date and time is the transmission date and time when theelectronic device (121) has transmitted the content.

In block 943, the server computer (201) determines whether thepublication option has been set, which is for the publication to beperformed depending on the trigger for performing the publication in thecase where the immediate publication of the content is not enabled. Inresponse to the publication option having been set, the server computer(201) advances the process to block 944. In contrast, in response to thepublication option not having been set, the server computer (201)advances the process to block 946.

In block 944, in the server computer (201), in response to thepublication option having been set, a server application of the servercomputer (201) does not immediately publish the content, but stores thecontent in the memory (203) or the storage medium (208) (both of whichact as buffers) of the server computer (201), and temporarily suspendsthe publication.

In block 945, the server computer (201) determines whether a trigger forpublishing the content, for which the publication has been temporarilysuspended, is satisfied.

The server computer (201) may set each of the events listed in (1) to(9) set forth in block 908 of FIG. 9A, for example, as the trigger, andmay determine that the publication of the content is enabled, when theevent is satisfied.

Moreover, in block 945, if the current position information on theelectronic device (121) is required to determine whether the trigger issatisfied, the server computer (201) obtains the current position of theelectronic device (121) from the electronic device (121) or from theserver computer collecting the current position of the electronic device(121), for example, at predetermined intervals.

Moreover, in block 945, if the user's schedule data is required todetermine whether the trigger is satisfied, the server computer (201)may read the user's schedule from, for example, the electronic schedule,for example, the schedule management app or the agenda software, whichis associated with the user. The electronic schedule data may be locatedin the electronic device (121), or may be located in the network storagemedium accessible by the electronic device (121) or in the servercomputer that manages the electronic schedule data (which may be thesame as or different from the server computer (201)).

In block 945, in response to the trigger being satisfied, the servercomputer (201) advances the process to block 946. In contrast, inresponse to the trigger not being satisfied, the server computer (201)repeats the determination block in block 945 until the trigger issatisfied.

In block 946, the server computer (201) publishes the content to thesocial medium with the transmission date and time as the date and timeof the posting by the user. The posting date and time to be displayedwhen the content is published on the server computer (201) is theposting date and time of the posting by the user, if the content is thecontent transmitted from the electronic device (121) via block 937(accordingly, the transmission date and time that is used as the postingdate and time to be displayed when the content is published on theserver computer (201) is the date and time prior to the transmissiondate and time when the electronic device (121) has actually transmittedthe content to the server computer (201)). Moreover, the posting dateand time to be displayed when the content is published on the servercomputer (201) is the transmission date and time when the content hasbeen actually transmitted from the electronic device (121), if thecontent is the content transmitted from the electronic device (121) viablock 938 (accordingly, the transmission date and time that is used asthe posting date and time to be displayed when the content is publishedon the server computer (201) is the same or substantially the same asthe transmission date and time when the electronic device (121) hasactually transmitted the content to the server computer (201)).

Moreover, in block 946, if the information allowing the immediatepublication to some of the users of the social medium has been attachedto the content received in block 942, the server computer (201) mayoptionally allow the immediate publication of the content only to someof the users, and immediately publish the content.

In block 947, the server computer (201) ends the process of publishingthe content. FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating an example of afunctional block diagram of an electronic device (1001) that includes ahardware configuration according to FIG. 1A or 1B, and that is accordingto the third aspect of the disclosure, as well as a functional blockdiagram of a server computer (1011) that includes a hardwareconfiguration according to FIG. 2, and that may be used in each of thethird and first aspects of the disclosure.

The electronic device (1001) executes the process of posting the contentto the social medium, and may be, for example, the electronic device(101) illustrated in FIG. 1A or the electronic device (121) illustratedin FIG. 1B.

The electronic device (1001) includes content posting detecting means(1021), shooting date and time determining means (1022), posting dateand time setting means (1023), trigger option detecting means (1024),buffering means (1025), content publication determining means (1026),position information obtaining means (1027), and content transmittingmeans (1028).

The content posting detecting means (1021) detects the posting of thecontent to the social medium by the user. The content posting detectingmeans (1021) may also execute block 902 described in FIG. 9A.

The shooting date and time determining means (1022) determines whetherthe content (for example, a picture or a moving image) detected by thecontent posting detecting means (1021) includes information indicatingthe shooting date and time.

The shooting date and time determining means (1022) may also executeblock 903 described in FIG. 9A.

In response to the content detected by the content posting detectingmeans (1021) including the information indicating the shooting date andtime, the posting date and time setting means (1023) queries the userwhether to set the shooting date and time as the posting date and timefor the content. Moreover, in response to the user's instruction to setthe shooting date and time as the posting date and time for the content,the posting date and time setting means (1023) replaces the date andtime of the posting of the content by the user, with the shooting dateand time.

The posting date and time setting means (1023) may also execute blocks904 and 905 described in FIG. 9A. The trigger option detecting means(1024) determines whether the publication option for the publication tobe performed depending on the trigger has been set.

Moreover, in response to the publication option, which is for thepublication to be performed depending on the trigger, having been set,the trigger option detecting means (1024) stores the content in thebuffering means (1025), and temporarily suspends the transmission of thecontent.

The trigger option detecting means (1024) may also execute blocks 906and 907 described in FIG. 9A.

In response to the immediate publication of the content detected by thecontent posting detecting means (1021) not being enabled, the bufferingmeans (1025) temporarily stores the content. The buffering means (1025)may be, for example, a memory or a storage medium of the electronicdevice (1001).

Moreover, the buffering means (1025) is used in block 907 described inFIG. 9A.

In response to the trigger option detecting means (1024) detecting thatthe trigger option has been set to the content, the content publicationdetermining means (1026) determines whether the publication of theposted content is enabled.

Moreover, the content publication determining means (1026) sets each ofthe events listed in the (1) to (9) set forth in the description ofblock 908 of FIG. 9A, for example, as the trigger, and determines thatthe publication of the content is enabled, when the event is satisfied.

Moreover, in response to the publication of the posted content not beingenabled, the content publication determining means (1026) may repeatedlydetermine whether the publication of the posted content is enabled. Therepeat may be executed at predetermined intervals, or depending on somesort of trigger. The trigger may be, for example, posting of newcontent, change of a base station in communication with the electronicdevice (1001), and a specific action performed by the user.

Moreover, the content publication determining means (1026) may obtainposition information on the electronic device (1001) from the positioninformation obtaining means (1027).

The content publication determining means (1026) may also execute block908 described in FIG. 9A.

The position information obtaining means (1027) obtains a currentposition of the electronic device (1001). The approach for obtaining theposition information is as set forth in the description of block 908 ofFIG. 9A.

Moreover, the position information obtaining means (1027) is used toobtain the current position of the electronic device (1001) in block 908described in FIG. 9A.

In response to the content publication determining means (1026) havingdetermined that the publication of the posted content is enabled, thecontent transmitting means (1028) transmits the posted content to theserver computer. In response to the trigger being satisfied, the contenttransmitting means (1028) transmits the posting date and time when thecontent has been posted by the user (which will have the time lag fromthe transmission date and time, due to the temporary suspension in block907), as the transmission date and time, along with the content to theserver computer (1011).

Moreover, the content transmitting means (1028) may transmit the dateand time when the posted content has been posted by the user, along withthe posted content.

The content transmitting means (1028) may also execute blocks 909 and910 described in FIG. 9A.

The server computer (1011) executes the process of publishing thecontent to the social medium, and may be, for example, the servercomputer (201) illustrated in FIG. 2.

The server computer (1011) includes content receiving means (1031) andcontent publishing means (1032).

The content receiving means (1031) receives the content and thetransmission date and time for the content, which have been transmittedfrom the content transmitting means (1028) of the electronic device(1001).

The content receiving means (1031) may also execute block 922 describedin FIG. 9A. The content publishing means (1032) immediately publishesthe content received by the content receiving means (1031), to thesocial medium. The content publishing means (1032) may also executeblock 923 described in FIG. 9A.

FIG. 11 is a diagram illustrating an example of a functional blockdiagram of an electronic device (1101) that includes the hardwareconfiguration according to FIG. 1A or 1B, and that may be used in thesecond or fourth aspects of the disclosure, as well as a functionalblock diagram of a server computer (1011) that includes the hardwareconfiguration according to FIG. 2, and that is according to the fourthaspect of the disclosure or may be used in the second aspect of thedisclosure.

The electronic device (1101) executes the process of posting the contentto the social medium, and may be, for example, the electronic device(1101) illustrated in FIG. 1A or the electronic device (121) illustratedin FIG. 1B.

The electronic device (1101) includes content posting detecting means(1121), shooting date and time determining means (1122), posting dateand time setting means (1123), trigger option detecting means (1124),content transmitting means (1125), and position information obtainingmeans (1126).

The content posting detecting means (1121) detects the posting of thecontent to the social medium by the user. The content posting detectingmeans (1121) may also execute block 932 described in FIG. 9B.

The shooting date and time determining means (1122) determines whetherthe content (for example, a picture or a moving image) detected by thecontent posting detecting means (1121) includes information indicatingthe shooting date and time.

The shooting date and time determining means (1122) may also executeblock 933 described in FIG. 9B. In response to the content detected bythe content posting detecting means (1121) including the informationindicating the shooting date and time, the posting date and time settingmeans (1123) queries the user whether to set the shooting date and timeas the posting date and time for the content. Moreover, in response tothe user's instruction to set the shooting date and time as the postingdate and time for the content, the posting date and time setting means(1123) replaces the date and time of the posting of the content by theuser, with the shooting date and time.

The posting date and time setting means (1123) may also execute block934 described in FIG. 9B. The trigger option detecting means (1124)determines whether the publication option for the publication to beperformed depending on the trigger has been set.

The trigger option detecting means (1124) may also execute block 936described in FIG. 9B. The content transmitting means (1125) transmitsthe posted content to the server computer. The content transmittingmeans (1125) may also execute blocks 937 and 938 described in FIG. 9B.The position information obtaining means (1126) obtains a currentposition of the electronic device (1101), in response to a request forprovision of the current position, from the server computer (1011), orat predetermined intervals. The approach for obtaining the positioninformation is as set forth in the description of block 908 of FIG. 9A.

Moreover, the position information obtained by the position informationobtaining means (1126) may be used in content publication determiningmeans (1133) of the server computer (1011).

The server computer (1111) executes the process of publishing thecontent to the social medium, and may be, for example, the servercomputer (201) illustrated in FIG. 2.

The server computer (1111) includes content receiving means (1131),trigger option receiving and detecting means (1132), the contentpublication determining means (1133), buffering means (1134), andcontent publishing means (1135).

The content receiving means (1131) receives the content posted by theuser, from the content transmitting means (1125) of the electronicdevice (1101).

Moreover, the content receiving means (1131) receives the posting dateand time when the posted content has been posted by the user, along withthe posted content.

The content receiving means (1131) may also execute block 942 describedin FIG. 9B. The trigger option receiving and detecting means (1132)determines whether the publication option for the publication to beperformed depending on the trigger has been set to the content receivedby the content receiving means (1131).

Moreover, in response to the publication option, which is for thepublication to be performed depending on the trigger, having been set,the trigger option receiving and detecting means (1132) stores thecontent in the buffering means (1134), and temporarily suspends thepublication of the content.

The trigger option receiving and detecting means (1132) may also executeblocks 943 and 944 described in FIG. 9B. In response to the immediatepublication of the content received by the content receiving means(1131) not being enabled, the buffering means (1134) temporarily storesthe received content. The buffering means (1134) may be, for example, amemory or a storage medium of the server computer (1011).

Moreover, the buffering means (1134) is used in block 944 described inFIG. 9B. The content publication determining means (1133) determineswhether the publication of the content received by the content receivingmeans (1131) is enabled.

Moreover, the content publication determining means (1133) sets each ofthe events listed in (1) to (9) set forth in the description of block945 of FIG. 9B, for example, as the trigger, and determines that thepublication of the content is enabled, when the event is satisfied.

Moreover, in response to the publication of the received content notbeing enabled, the content publication determining means (1133) mayrepeatedly determine whether the publication of the posted content isenabled. The repeat may be executed at predetermined intervals, ordepending on some sort of trigger. The trigger may be, for example,reception of posting of new content from the electronic device (1101),change of a base station in communication with the electronic device(1101), and reception of the specific action by the user.

Moreover, the content publication determining means (1133) may receivethe position information on the electronic device (1101) from theposition information obtaining means (1126) of the electronic device(1101), or may obtain the position information on the electronic device(1101) from another server computer collecting the current position ofthe electronic device (1101).

The content publication determining means (1133) may also execute block945 described in FIG. 9B. In response to the publication of the contentreceived by the content receiving means (1131) having been enabled, thecontent publishing means (1135) publishes the received content.

Moreover, if the content received by the content receiving means (1131)includes the information indicating the shooting date and time for thecontent, the content publishing means (1135) sets the posting date andtime to be displayed when the content received by the content receivingmeans (1131) is published on the server computer (1011), so as to be theshooting date and time.

The content publishing means (1135) may also execute block 946 describedin FIG. 9B.

The present invention may be a system, a method, and/or a computerprogram product at any possible technical detail level of integration.The computer program product may include a computer readable storagemedium (or media) having computer readable program instructions thereonfor causing a processor to carry out aspects of the present invention.

The computer readable storage medium can be a tangible device that canretain and store instructions for use by an instruction executiondevice. The computer readable storage medium may be, for example, but isnot limited to, an electronic storage device, a magnetic storage device,an optical storage device, an electromagnetic storage device, asemiconductor storage device, or any suitable combination of theforegoing. A non-exhaustive list of more specific examples of thecomputer readable storage medium includes the following: a portablecomputer diskette, a hard disk, a random access memory (RAM), aread-only memory (ROM), an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROMor Flash memory), a static random access memory (SRAM), a portablecompact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM), a digital versatile disk (DVD),a memory stick, a floppy disk, a mechanically encoded device such aspunch-cards or raised structures in a groove having instructionsrecorded thereon, and any suitable combination of the foregoing. Acomputer readable storage medium, as used herein, is not to be construedas being transitory signals per se, such as radio waves or other freelypropagating electromagnetic waves, electromagnetic waves propagatingthrough a waveguide or other transmission media (e.g., light pulsespassing through a fiber-optic cable), or electrical signals transmittedthrough a wire.

Computer readable program instructions described herein can bedownloaded to respective computing/processing devices from a computerreadable storage medium or to an external computer or external storagedevice via a network, for example, the Internet, a local area network, awide area network and/or a wireless network. The network may comprisecopper transmission cables, optical transmission fibers, wirelesstransmission, routers, firewalls, switches, gateway computers and/oredge servers. A network adapter card or network interface in eachcomputing/processing device receives computer readable programinstructions from the network and forwards the computer readable programinstructions for storage in a computer readable storage medium withinthe respective computing/processing device.

Computer readable program instructions for carrying out operations ofthe present invention may be assembler instructions,instruction-set-architecture (ISA) instructions, machine instructions,machine dependent instructions, microcode, firmware instructions,state-setting data, configuration data for integrated circuitry, oreither source code or object code written in any combination of one ormore programming languages, including an object oriented programminglanguage such as Smalltalk, C++, or the like, and procedural programminglanguages, such as the “C” programming language or similar programminglanguages. The computer readable program instructions may executeentirely on the user's computer, partly on the user's computer, as astand-alone software package, partly on the user's computer and partlyon a remote computer or entirely on the remote computer or server. Inthe latter scenario, the remote computer may be connected to the user'scomputer through any type of network, including a local area network(LAN) or a wide area network (WAN), or the connection may be made to anexternal computer (for example, through the Internet using an InternetService Provider). In some embodiments, electronic circuitry including,for example, programmable logic circuitry, field-programmable gatearrays (FPGA), or programmable logic arrays (PLA) may execute thecomputer readable program instructions by utilizing state information ofthe computer readable program instructions to personalize the electroniccircuitry, in order to perform aspects of the present invention.

Aspects of the present invention are described herein with reference toflowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams of methods, apparatus(systems), and computer program products according to embodiments of theinvention. It will be understood that each block of the flowchartillustrations and/or block diagrams, and combinations of blocks in theflowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams, can be implemented bycomputer readable program instructions.

These computer readable program instructions may be provided to aprocessor of a general purpose computer, special purpose computer, orother programmable data processing apparatus to produce a machine, suchthat the instructions, which execute via the processor of the computeror other programmable data processing apparatus, create means forimplementing the functions/acts specified in the flowchart and/or blockdiagram block or blocks. These computer readable program instructionsmay also be stored in a computer readable storage medium that can directa computer, a programmable data processing apparatus, and/or otherdevices to function in a particular manner, such that the computerreadable storage medium having instructions stored therein comprises anarticle of manufacture including instructions which implement aspects ofthe function/act specified in the flowchart and/or block diagram blockor blocks.

The computer readable program instructions may also be loaded onto acomputer, other programmable data processing apparatus, or other deviceto cause a series of operational steps to be performed on the computer,other programmable apparatus or other device to produce a computerimplemented process, such that the instructions which execute on thecomputer, other programmable apparatus, or other device implement thefunctions/acts specified in the flowchart and/or block diagram block orblocks.

The flowchart and block diagrams in the Figures illustrate thearchitecture, functionality, and operation of possible implementationsof systems, methods, and computer program products according to variousembodiments of the present invention. In this regard, each block in theflowchart or block diagrams may represent a module, segment, or portionof instructions, which comprises one or more executable instructions forimplementing the specified logical function(s). In some alternativeimplementations, the functions noted in the blocks may occur out of theorder noted in the Figures. For example, two blocks shown in successionmay, in fact, be executed substantially concurrently, or the blocks maysometimes be executed in the reverse order, depending upon thefunctionality involved. It will also be noted that each block of theblock diagrams and/or flowchart illustration, and combinations of blocksin the block diagrams and/or flowchart illustration, can be implementedby special purpose hardware-based systems that perform the specifiedfunctions or acts or carry out combinations of special purpose hardwareand computer instructions.

What is claimed is:
 1. An apparatus for posting content to a socialmedium, the apparatus comprising: an input configured to receive contentposted by a user along with an associated posting time that indicateswhen the user selected an option to post the content to the socialmedium; a memory configured to store data; and a processing unit coupledto the input and to the memory, wherein the processing unit isconfigured to: determine that publication of the content posted by theuser is dependent on a trigger, wherein the trigger relates to both apredetermined location and either the user or a party associated withthe user; in response to determining that publication of the content isdependent on the trigger, store the content with the associated postingtime in the memory and indefinitely suspend publication of the contentpending a determination that the trigger is satisfied; and publish thecontent at a publication time in response to determining that thetrigger is satisfied, wherein the content is published such that theassociated posting time is published with the content to indicate a timeprior to the publication time.
 2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein theprocessing unit is configured to indefinitely suspend publication of thecontent by: indefinitely suspending transmission of the content to aserver; and in response to determining that the trigger has beensatisfied, transmitting the content and the posting time to a server forpublication.
 3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the processing unit isconfigured to indefinitely suspend publication of the content by:receiving the content and the posting time transmitted from anelectronic device; storing the content and posting time in the memory;and in response to determining that the trigger has been satisfied,publishing the content and the posting time.
 4. The apparatus of claim1, wherein the trigger comprises one of: arrival of the user at thepredetermined location which is designated by the user; arrival of theuser at a vicinity of the predetermined location; the user having leftthe predetermined location; the user having left the vicinity of thepredetermined location; absence of the user from the predeterminedlocation; or absence of the user from by the user or the vicinity of thepredetermined location.
 5. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the triggercomprises one of: elapse of a predicted time until the user arrives atthe predetermined location designated by the user from a currentposition; elapse of time indicated in a schedule until the user leavesthe current position; elapse of a predicted time until the user leavesthe current position; or elapse of a predetermined time.
 6. Theapparatus of claim 1, wherein the trigger comprises one of: arrival ofthe party associated with the user at the predetermined location that isdesignated by the user; arrival of the party at a vicinity of thepredetermined location; or presence of the party at the predeterminedlocation.